A Month in Türkiye

Our Gateway To The Middle East

After 16 months of full-time travel (and counting), I think it is safe to say that we have learned a lot!

It is always fun to think back on how different our perspective of the world was in December of 2021 compared to now.

We have immersed ourselves in cultures that are very different from our own. We have learned about the customs, traditions, languages, religions, and histories of nations that we wouldn’t have been able to point out on a map a few years ago.

But apart from all of that, we have also learned a lot about ourselves! We have realized that we are capable of a lot more than we gave ourselves credit for in the past.

I can vividly remember a time when the thought of spending an entire month in Türkiye would have scared us a little bit.

Now, I can say with absolute certainty that we will take advantage of every single opportunity to visit this amazing country!

We didn’t fully comprehend the scale of Türkiye until we started planning our explorations. It is larger than any country in Europe by far.

Even a full month was not enough time to see everything, and we still have quite a long list of things we want to see when we go back!

While we weren’t originally expecting to spend such a long time there, we ended up being very glad to get the chance to explore one of the world’s most geographically diverse countries.

Our original plan was to spend 2 weeks in Türkiye. Then, heartbreakingly, the entire world watched in horror as the events of October 7th unfolded.

We were in the Cappadocia region at the time, which is in central Türkiye. We were only 600 miles away from southern Israel. A flight to Tel Aviv would have only taken us about an hour.

It was eerily similar to the situation we found ourselves in at the end of February 2022.

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine took place, we were less than 200 miles from the Ukrainian border in Romania.

We weren’t in any immediate danger in both instances, but it was both bizarre and heartbreaking to think about what was happening right next to us.

I think that modern media coverage of war can sometimes desensitize us to how horrifying warfare actually is.

Innocent people just like you and me, who have absolutely nothing to do with the conflicts over territory and ideology taking place, lose their lives simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It truly shatters our hearts to think that this is still happening right now, not just in Ukraine and Gaza, but also in Sudan, Myanmar, Yemen, and a handful of other countries that the media barely mentions.

We live in a very complicated world. Some of these conflicts are centuries in the making, and it is so hard to imagine any realistic solutions in the near future.

I don’t have any answers. I just hope with all my heart that we live to see a world at peace.

After the October 7th attacks and the retaliatory attacks on Gaza, there was obviously a lot of tension in the region.

I mentioned the similarities this situation had with our situation in Romania. While we were in close proximity to the conflict in both cases, we never felt the need to immediately relocate.

Türkiye’s relationship with the US is perhaps a little more complicated than that of Romania. But, at the end of the day, Türkiye is also a member of the NATO alliance and had no direct ties to the emerging conflict in Israel and Palestine.

The issue we faced was that our next stop on our itinerary had suddenly gone from potentially volatile to very unsafe.

We had plans to visit Lebanon after Türkiye.

While we were advised to avoid the south of Lebanon near the border with Israel, the capital city of Beirut had been considered a relatively safe destination for tourists over the past few years.

As a city renowned for its fascinating cultural significance, delicious cuisine, and vibrant nightlife, we felt like Beirut was going to be an exotic experience worth having.

On top of that, we had to choose between visiting Beirut or making a stop in Israel since neither country would grant us entry if we had a passport stamp from the other.

We came to the conclusion that we would probably be in more danger going to Israel than Beirut because of the volatility of the Hamas threat. In hindsight, this rationale was hauntingly accurate.

This was, once again, an uncanny similarity to the beginning of 2022. We actually had Ukraine in our original itinerary for that year. We didn’t officially change those plans until October of 2021 when it was clear that tensions on the Russian-Ukrainian border were reaching a boiling point.

Even then, we never imagined there would be a full-scale invasion.

We were planning to arrive in Kyiv on March 1st, 2022.

Had we chosen Israel over Lebanon, we were planning to arrive in Tel Aviv on October 14th, 2023.

In both cases, the wars broke out within a week of our original plans to visit.

We are obviously very grateful that we avoided ending up in any dangerous situations, but we are also heartbroken that these places we looked forward to visiting have become unsafe. Not just for travelers, but especially for people who call those places home.

After Beirut, our next stop was going to be Jordan. We decided to rearrange those plans as well.

In this case, we probably would have been safe in the areas we were planning on going. Jordan was adamant that they were still welcoming tourists despite the proximity of the conflict.

However, it just didn’t feel like the right time to go.

It would have been hard to visit attractions like the Dead Sea and the ancient city of Petra knowing what the people of Palestine were going through just across the border. The invasion of Gaza had already begun, and the tension in the West Bank (which borders Jordan) was leading to unrest and violence.

We have been able to spend time in several countries over the past few years that would have been impossible to visit even 30 years ago . We can only hope that this will be the case for Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon 30 years from now.

After our rearranged plans, we now had 2 open weeks we needed to fill. Since our next stops after Jordan were already booked, it just made the most sense to extend our stay in Türkiye. We didn’t have many other options apart from back-tracking to Eastern Europe.

We were very fortunate to be in a country with so much to offer. Türkiye has just about everything you could possibly imagine.

Mountains, Mediterranean coastline, desert, forests, big cities, historic towns, and SO many Ancient Greek and Roman ruins!

We were honestly tempted to spend another week in Istanbul even though we had already spent 12 days there. We were just so captivated by it!

(Check out our Istanbul newsletter if you haven’t already for the full details)

But, at the end of the day, there was so much more we wanted to see.

We had already spent an incredible weekend in the central region of Cappadocia. Between the unique rock formations, the stunning viewpoints, and the iconic hot air balloons, it was an experience that we had looked forward to for a very long time!

Cappadocia’s climate is semi-arid. It was relatively hot during the day and FREEZING at night.

Since we are packing quite a bit lighter this year, we had to endure our early morning sunrise hikes in thin sweatshirts when we probably could have used a jacket and scarves!

With that said, freezing our butts off at 4:30am has never been more worth it. The hot air balloons take off right as the sun appears over the horizon, and the scenery is nothing short of majestic!

With Cappadocia checked off the list, we had to choose between heading east or south.

After weighing all the options, we decided that the best place to spend the rest of our time was the Mediterranean coastline on the south and west side of the country.

Sunny skies, warm weather, and the gorgeous blue waters of the Mediterranean sounded like the perfect change of pace!

Our first stop was the coastal city of Izmir. This was once a stronghold of Alexander the Great, but nowadays, it is a thriving college town!

4 well-renowned universities are located here, and the city’s atmosphere is quite lively.

Although we enjoyed getting a glimpse of a new city, we didn’t stay long.

This became our starting point for a week long road trip along the Turkish Riviera!

I’ve mentioned before how we have rarely looked into renting cars on our travels. The only exception was our last stop of 2022 in Iceland.

In Europe, there is very little need for a car in most places.

However, Türkiye seemed like a perfect opportunity for an adventure behind the wheel!

This road trip was absolutely exhilarating. Miles upon miles of stunning coastline. Dozens of towns with seaside restaurants and captivating architecture. The bright blue waters glistening in the sunlight.

And in between the towns? The ancient relics of the Greek and Roman empires scattered all over the ever-changing topography!

It was shocking how much it reminded us of Greece. But then again, should it be that shocking? The two countries are directly across the Aegean Sea from each other!

For some reason, it seems like Greece gets a lot more attention and admiration from western tourists.

Let me just say that there were several instances on this road trip where I would not have been able to tell the difference between the two (apart from the prices being far more affordable).

Our first official stop was a delicious Turkish lunch in the charming town of Çeşme, about 45 minutes outside of Izmir.

We then made our way to the ancient city of Ephesus (which includes one of the seven wonders of the ancient world!) before arriving in Bodrum on the southern coast.

The next six days were a blissful haze of bright blue water, boat rides, swimming, delightful Turkish cuisine, and I can’t stress it enough, SO MANY incredible ancient ruins!

I have to say, the food in Türkiye is an absolute delight! It has a lot of the same features as Greek cuisine when it comes to the roasted meat kebabs, olives, cucumbers, cheeses, and dips.

They are very fond of döner kebab which we absolutely fell in love with in Germany! Turkish immigrants brought döner to Germany and it has now spread to every corner of Europe, so we were very excited to visit the place where it originated!

However, there are several dishes that I had NEVER heard of before, and haven’t been able to find since we left!

One of these is known as Lahmacun, which tourists often refer to as “Turkish pizza”.

If I’m being honest, the comparison to pizza is quite a stretch. I guess the one similarity would be that it involves dough and toppings?

Lahmacun is a thin flatbread topped with a mixture of minced meat and vegetables. The prominent flavors definitely come from the garlic and herbs. They are also served with a lemon wedge to squeeze over, and we observed most locals eating them either folded in half or wrapped up.

Another unique Turkish dish that I never would have associated with Türkiye before our visit is known as Kumpir.

It is essentially just a baked potato with the most insane toppings you could possibly imagine 😂

Corn, butter, peas, olives, green onion and dill pickle are the most common.

However, we saw everything from hot dog slices and ketchup to tuna salad!

These were particularly good with spicy sauce on top in my opinion 😋

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the wide array of sweets available in Türkiye!

The baklava was absolutely spectacular. While it can also be found in Greece and a few Middle Eastern countries, the Turks proudly claim it as their own.

We also really enjoyed a rich and flavorful pastry known as kunefe. It has a somewhat similar taste profile to baklava with the sweet syrup and pistachio flavors, but the texture was completely different.

The signature layers of cheese and clotted cream create an incredible balance of sweet and savory! We found kunefe all over the Middle East as well. It became a personal favorite of mine!

You have probably heard of Turkish delights before. In Turkish, they are called lokum and they are sold by the gram in every market around the country.

We honestly weren’t crazy about the ones we bought from the market shops. They were a little too sweet and kind of expensive relative to everything else.

However, the lokum served on the side of our Turkish coffees was always a nice little treat!

While the coffee was spectacular, we actually fell in love with Turkish tea the most! We learned that it is actually just regular black tea, but the unique flavor comes from the fact that they brew it in very large batches.

This is because Turks drink SO. MUCH. TEA. The large batches actually go by faster than you would think.

We eventually got up to 3-4 Turkish teas a day, which is still considered not nearly enough by the locals 😂

The tea is always served in the signature tulip-shaped glass and a plentiful amount of sugar cubes.

While tea and coffee culture was such a fun way to immerse ourselves in the local customs, our absolute FAVORITE new tradition was Turkish breakfast!

In Türkiye, they take the whole “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” thing very very seriously.

Breakfast in Türkiye always involves a massive spread that takes up every available inch of table space!

It is so much fun to sample all of the dips, chutneys, jams, dried fruits, nuts, and everything in between!

It is a flavor explosion involving sweets, savories, and everything in between! It is also quite filling which usually tides you over all the way into the evening.

Turkish cuisine was probably the most unique we had tried up to that point. It was definitely a great way to get our taste buds ready for the rest of the adventure!

Our final stop was the coastal city of Antalya, where we had a week to ourselves after dropping off the car. This week was dedicated to catching up on work, planning the next steps of the adventure, and of course, getting out on a boat one more time!

Antalya is home to the Duden waterfalls, which have to be the coolest waterfalls we have ever seen in person!

By complete coincidence, our last day also happened to be Republic Day in Türkiye! This is essentially their version of 4th of July where they celebrate the day Mustafa Atatürk proclaimed Türkiye a People’s Republic.

The celebrations were amazing! There were massive Turkish flags draped over all of the buildings and parades along several of the main streets!

We learned a lot about the legacy of Mustafa Atatürk as well! Before this year, I can’t say that we had ever even heard of him. It was pretty cool to see how much he is celebrated by the Turkish people.

While the circumstances behind our extended stay were undeniably heartbreaking, we ended up discovering a lot more about Türkiye than we expected.

As memorable as the scenery, food, and architecture was, the thing I will remember most was how kind and welcoming the Turkish people were during a period of intense conflict in the region.

We were a long way from home, and our government’s strong alliance with Israel was putting the US in a very negative light among most Middle Eastern countries.

There was an overwhelming amount of support towards Palestine rather than Israel among the Turkish people. We saw about as many Palestine flags during that month as we saw Ukrainian flags around Europe in 2022.

Despite all of this, everyone we encountered was so friendly to us and so happy to welcome us into their country.

Everything about the culture and lifestyle in Türkiye started to become familiar to us after such a long time there.

We became so accustomed to the Muslim call to prayer 5 times a day, we somehow learned how to sleep through the 5am prayer even when our apartment was across the street from a mosque!

Even though the customs, religion and language were all so foreign to us, we really enjoyed making Türkiye our temporary home.