Between Middle-earth and Aladdin

A trip decided almost by chance... A trip organised entirely by ourselves... A trip almost to the edge of time and space... A trip with an exceptional guide... A trip that left Turkey in our hearts...

Turkey really is of an astonishing beauty... Istanbul is impalpable, impossible to describe... Cappadocia really seems the set of a fantasy film, you have the feeling of seeing Frodo pop up from every corner hidden by the fairy chimneys! The rock wall paintings, the churches carved into the rock... it all seems fake... and those landscapes covered in snow! You'll say: we have snow too! True, but never without interruptions of houses or people!

But let's leave these details to the more detailed account to come and throw ourselves into the more "practical" data:

FLIGHTS: International flight Venice-Munich-Istanbul with Lufthansa, only to discover too late that a direct Venice-Istanbul flight had started... oh well! The leg to Munich operated by Air Dolomiti, then Lufthansa. Good service and not bad aircraft. Domestic flight Istanbul-Kayseri in Cappadocia with Turkish Airlines, a most pleasant discovery! Excellent airline, very comfortable aircraft, excellent on-board service: a REAL sandwich, a drink and a sweet, despite the very short flight! Absolutely to be chosen for any direct flight to Istanbul from Italy.

HOTELS:

ISTANBUL:

LE MERIDIEN ISTANBUL ETILER for the first part of the stay: Tel: 0090 212 3515800 Five stars with good service; open for just over a month, very nice, friendly and smiling staff. Very nice room, with a bathroom with separate tub and shower, comfortable mattress and a very well-stocked minibar. Unfortunately very far from the centre, it forced us to use taxis constantly. Another flaw: modern, however comfortable and beautiful, but it gave the feeling that we could have been anywhere in the world... Negative side of it being new: no taxi driver knew where it was....

W ISTANBUL for the second part of the stay: Tel 0090 212 3812121 Five stars too, a bit closer to the centre, but still not reachable on foot; for us it wasn't bad because it is right in front of the Dolmabahçe Palace, which would have been our first stop in the morning. This too is a modern hotel, even too much, with an air (the corridors) of a brothel... just because the predominant colours are red and black. The rooms are a little too dark. Excellent the solution found with the separate sink, created in a corner of the room and closed inside a sort of "wall wardrobe". Despite the excellent welcome with hearts, rose petals on the bed and a heart-shaped chocolate cake, they slipped a bit on the details: only one pair of slippers, only one chocolate in couverture... ok, I know what you're thinking... but these are the critical eyes of the trade...

I should change profession so as not to notice these things! Very expensive the buffet at the restaurant for breakfast, charged entirely even if you take very little. Excellent however the restaurant's cuisine, very typical and refined.

GOREME, CAPPADOCIA:

DERVISH CAVE HOUSE: Incredible, carved into the rock, really very characteristic. The boys who ran it were extremely kind, hospitable and courteous. They even changed our room without batting an eyelid when we happened to see one we liked more.... what a capricious woman! Room with breakfast included, we found 2 pairs of slippers in the room, clean towels changed daily (even though it wouldn't have been necessary), a kettle with tea and coffee sachets... 4 nights for 220 Euros with breakfast included: an excellent choice I'd say! And the location is fantastic!

RESTAURANTS:

ISTANBUL: First evening room service at the MERIDIEN: given the very late hour (past midnight) we can't complain! We had a traditional kebab, good anyway... Second evening at BALIKCI SABAHATTIN: hidden in a ramshackle street in the Sultanhamet district; don't be fooled and look carefully at the cars stopping in front of you..... almost nothing below a Mercedes..... indeed: the turbot was excellent, the appetisers excellent, the warm bread excellent... and the bill also excellent, decidedly too expensive! On our return from Cappadocia, partly because of the hotel's distance from the centre, partly because of the snow and freezing wind, here we are at the W HOTEL restaurant both evenings: really excellent!!! Dishes prepared with care and everything very good, with traditional flavours.

The prices seemed to us fairly normal, but be careful with the wine list, there you could take a nasty hit! Like ours.....

GOREME: CAPPADOCIA PIDE HOUSE: Unbeatable! We ended up there the first evening and didn't look for anything else! The pide are excellent, a sort of their "pizza", just with a different shape... the manager is very nice and so is the waiter, a very young boy who won us over immediately! Absolutely to be recommended! You eat a lot and spend the right amount! And you laugh a lot.... I'll tell you!

GUIDES AND AGENCIES:

As said before, we organised the trip ourselves, but not having much time, we relied on some local guides: ISTANBUL: we booked a city tour with City Discovery: 50 Euros each including entrance fees, an Italian-speaking guide and lunch; not bad except for the fact that we set off at 8 in the morning... and there was no way to make them understand that we could also meet at the first stop... maybe we would have slept an hour more... in the end it wasn't bad, even just for the fact that we were the only Italians in the group, and therefore had a guide all to ourselves, Daisy, whom we then hired again for the day we returned. She speaks a lot of languages: Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, Hebrew, French and of course Turkish....

a force of nature: she must be 60 if not more but she runs like a train! CAPPADOCIA: I recommend without doubts, without hesitation and without delay: Bulent Ozmen, fantastic! After the first day it felt like we had been together for days and days! Professional, clear, concise, likeable, warm, smiling, great sense of humour, passionate about photography (for me not a negligible detail) and attentive to detail. With him you really feel in excellent hands. E-mail: guidecappadoce@gmail.com.

And I think we've covered the general details and contacts.... now the diary begins!