If there is anything like the 2nd best that is almost at par with the 1st then , THIS IS IT :
I always thought and still believe that Indian food is the Best Cuisine in the world , my taste buds were pleasantly surprised to know that something equivalent is there is another corner of the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you Food from Turkey , lip smacking , wonderful after taste , heavenly aroma and enticing presentation. Maybe a slight or more than slight flavor of Indian food taste is what made my mouth water.. This article is not about the food , but about Turkey as seen from my angle , the food was mentioned right in the beginning just to make sure I get my point across , the food is simply put DELECTABLE.
Behind every trip I have a solid reason and this trip is on exception , for readers this is my first travel blog but its definately not my first trip.. Before memory fails I thought I should pen the latest and move backwards least I forget more details of the wonderful trips..
My cousin bought a voucher from Religare and they had this usual thing of refer someone , no prizes for guessing who the referred person is :) MOI....
The voucher stated that we could get 6 night and 7 days of trip anywhere in the world and blah blah blah ,,, who won't fall for such things , I'm sorry but I was not the smartest to have figured out that this was a possible scam.. So buy we did , valid for a year and with our annual trip pending this seemed just perfect.
I did not waste any time , from day one I was onto the booking people , after following up relentlessly and after I was told from that 9 of our options only 2 were being considered since the rest were all booked ( which by the way was a big lie ) ..to cut the short short I literally threatened to pull them to court if they dont give my booking. Lady luck glanced at us and we were the only ones among the 10's I know of who ever got the voucher redeemed.
Turkey was the chosen destination , we first planned to hit Antalya which is a lovely quiet city and then hit Istanbul where my husband has booked us at one of the best hotels with the most cozy best and the loveliest view ever.. I'll get to that in a while... I tend to write a lot if your reading this then you have no options but bear with me :) if this can be called a style well then its simply my style , this is the shortest I can write :)...
This trip we did on our own , no agent no 3rd party.Extensive google study about what to do and not , got info from a couple who I found on a friends friends facebook page who visited Antalya . etc etc... I found out during one of my research and a few mail thread to the Turkey embassy that if the tourist has a US visa stamped then they would get a visa on arrival which works out cheaper. My brain got ticking , cheaper wowwwwww I can shop more with that extra money ( wicked smile ) ... I convinced my husband its not a good idea to get the visa stamped in Blore , since he has US visa , I'll just get mine done here and we can get this visa stamped in Turkey when we land...
The day finally arrives , I was super excited to go on the trip but felt guilty and sad coz we were leaving our son back. He was just a year and half and we did not want him to come on a trip that might not really excite him..
At the airport we moved a little slower than others , why because Vignesh did not carry a valid visa and the authorities were not clear on the new policy ... I forgot to mention that the policy for US visa holders being eligible for visa on arrival was implemented on 30th June , we traveled in Nov .After a few checks and call they let us in , Hubby was not necessarily amused . He was darling and kept quiet but I was definitely not calm , outwardly yes but internally I was like I hope we get through no issues at the port of entry... After a nice journey with horrible non veg food we landed in Antalya , huge Airport but Viola !!!! are we the only ones :) somethign was amiss , most people who landed with us were heading towards another wing for change of aircraft. We headed to immigration..
I was the first to go , bingo in a min I was let go to breath the fresh air of Antalya and experience a journey very different from the others. Hubby was next , the man on the other side of the counter flips n flips through the pages , makes someone else check and re-check again and finally asks " Visa Where " ..Hubby tries explaining and we get to know their knowledge of English is very limited ,, damnnnnnnnn...If looks could kill I would not have been writing this :) but hubby stayed calmmmmmmmmm.. We went to another control room , I pulled out all the papers and interactions with the Turkey embassy where they informed that we are eligible for options and that the rule was new..
Apparently we were the first to take advantage of the new rule , now how in the world was I to know that,, plsssss tell me ... No English anywhere , but our dear internet came to our rescue , with some translation tool and a few understandable English conversations they understood what we were telling . After over an hour we got out of the Airport,Visa in tow ... Learning : Don't take risks with new rules , never wise to be penny pinching specially on a foreign trip.. Specially where language could be a problem...
We come out and see a few people sparingly but the entire ambiance made me feel good , the air was super clean and ultra fresh , I loved it from Min one and the time spent sweating it out at the airport almost seemed negligible.
Cab was the easiest way to our hotel in Kaleci , its the old town and we got our booking in a place called Karyatit.We reached around Mid afternoon and the weather was pleasant...We look around and see cute little cars called Doblo from Fiat plying as taxis , lots of cars we find on Indian roads were seen moving around... From Tarred roads we suddenly swirl to our left to a cobbled road with Palm trees running through the center of the road .. It seemed like a movie set with shops all over with glamorous ladies walking on the path way and a tram running in between the foot path and the road and off course the scooters which seemed straight out from a 1970's movie.... As we enter Kaleci old market we move through tiny cobbled roads like we see in some English Movies with Building touching each other , ranging from small , medium to big ... Almost every house has been converted to a Stay at home kind of an accommodation , some to hotels and some into just restaurant. I did not count for obvious reason , but there must have been more then 200 such places , with atleast 50 restaurants all in close proximity ...
Mid afternoon we land @ Karyatit and sweet little place , with creepers all over and a very homely English feel , as we walk to our room we meet the lady owner , very pretty looking and very well built ( politically correct I hope ) ... It was quiet cold and our landlady was blowing small smoke rings into the air , quiet forward I thought to myself knowing that they come from a conservative community. Very polite and helpful right from the landlady to the janitor we knew we made a good decision to come here...This accommodation was provided by Religare :) we compulsorily had to take the breakfast package which costed us extra but no complains since we did not want to go out looking for bfast early in the morning.Also we read reviews that if we don't take the breakfast package they landlady is wont necessarily be nice to us , its is once in a life time trip why bother , its was reasonable so no complains all the way..
We were shown our room , what can I say ,it was cozyyyyyyyyyyyy no doubt but maybe a little too cozy I would think , the room just fit the cot right.. We had space to just fit out bags and then hop to our bed , both of us are on the slim side so we did not bother too much on the space bit but for someone who is a little healthy I can foresee serious problems :)... There was not much to scrutinize around the room and clicking of pictures since it was just small and ultra compact, turn to check the bathroom.I think only a size 0 can get in comfortably and not complain , I was at my thinnest possible phase of post marriage weight and I could not get in straight , I had to move side ways.. Its might be difficult to picture the scenario but it brings a smile back on my face wondering how the Janitor who is at least 100 kilos cleans the room , maybe a long stick or there is someone I have not seen who is reed thin.
We don't waste anytime and after a quick shower get ready and leave for our first venture into Antalya..Im a cat fan and for cat lovers this is paradise , every family has cats and some have in 10's , all big Persian cats and occasional small cats. I have never seen so many cats in my life roaming around with absolutely no fear of human beings. Dogs I spotted very very few. We walked out around 5 in the evening and felt chill breeze swaying across us , felt good , clean fresh air ....We meet a lot of European couples who come down to Turkey during the month of Nov as Turkey is the last country in the west that hits winter ....Sun is precious to most people who come from the colder regions of the world. People could not fathom why we could want to come from India to a place like Turkey because they think India is warm and we would not like warm climate. 30 to 36 is warm for us , 15 to 20 is warm for the westerners ..GK aside we move on , the entire feel was the place was surreal so calm , sea a stones throw away with not an ounce of stick feeling like in India and some other countries I have been too, Trams , 5 inch heeled ultra glamorous beautiful ladies , good looking men with very very thick eye brows . In general a person who gets into details if I'm intrigued for now this should do good :) ... Kaleci is the old city and the most fasinating part of Antalya is that on one side of the road you will find the old city and on the other modern to ultra modern shops and restaurants... Both unique in their own way and the old city had maintained the charm which is very rare these days across the globe. If they thoought about tourism industry maybe we would have saved a few more old historic places with the cities that we live in now ... Moving on..........
We enter the old city with me starting by clicking multiple pictures standing over the small bridge that takes us into the old city with numerous shops selling both old , new n fake items which are almost genuine :) ... I pick up a Nazar Bandook , a Talisman which is very intricately done , after a good bargain I picked up 3 of them only to realize I still did pay almost 1/3rd the price more more most of the shops around , Lesson Learnt : Never pick up things in first shot , scout around and pick it up unless your scared that it might get bought and yes don't bother asking the rate from other shops , learn to be satisfied :)
Mid afternoon we land @ Karyatit and sweet little place , with creepers all over and a very homely English feel , as we walk to our room we meet the lady owner , very pretty looking and very well built ( politically correct I hope ) ... It was quiet cold and our landlady was blowing small smoke rings into the air , quiet forward I thought to myself knowing that they come from a conservative community. Very polite and helpful right from the landlady to the janitor we knew we made a good decision to come here...This accommodation was provided by Religare :) we compulsorily had to take the breakfast package which costed us extra but no complains since we did not want to go out looking for bfast early in the morning.Also we read reviews that if we don't take the breakfast package they landlady is wont necessarily be nice to us , its is once in a life time trip why bother , its was reasonable so no complains all the way..
We were shown our room , what can I say ,it was cozyyyyyyyyyyyy no doubt but maybe a little too cozy I would think , the room just fit the cot right.. We had space to just fit out bags and then hop to our bed , both of us are on the slim side so we did not bother too much on the space bit but for someone who is a little healthy I can foresee serious problems :)... There was not much to scrutinize around the room and clicking of pictures since it was just small and ultra compact, turn to check the bathroom.I think only a size 0 can get in comfortably and not complain , I was at my thinnest possible phase of post marriage weight and I could not get in straight , I had to move side ways.. Its might be difficult to picture the scenario but it brings a smile back on my face wondering how the Janitor who is at least 100 kilos cleans the room , maybe a long stick or there is someone I have not seen who is reed thin.
We don't waste anytime and after a quick shower get ready and leave for our first venture into Antalya..Im a cat fan and for cat lovers this is paradise , every family has cats and some have in 10's , all big Persian cats and occasional small cats. I have never seen so many cats in my life roaming around with absolutely no fear of human beings. Dogs I spotted very very few. We walked out around 5 in the evening and felt chill breeze swaying across us , felt good , clean fresh air ....We meet a lot of European couples who come down to Turkey during the month of Nov as Turkey is the last country in the west that hits winter ....Sun is precious to most people who come from the colder regions of the world. People could not fathom why we could want to come from India to a place like Turkey because they think India is warm and we would not like warm climate. 30 to 36 is warm for us , 15 to 20 is warm for the westerners ..GK aside we move on , the entire feel was the place was surreal so calm , sea a stones throw away with not an ounce of stick feeling like in India and some other countries I have been too, Trams , 5 inch heeled ultra glamorous beautiful ladies , good looking men with very very thick eye brows . In general a person who gets into details if I'm intrigued for now this should do good :) ... Kaleci is the old city and the most fasinating part of Antalya is that on one side of the road you will find the old city and on the other modern to ultra modern shops and restaurants... Both unique in their own way and the old city had maintained the charm which is very rare these days across the globe. If they thoought about tourism industry maybe we would have saved a few more old historic places with the cities that we live in now ... Moving on..........
We enter the old city with me starting by clicking multiple pictures standing over the small bridge that takes us into the old city with numerous shops selling both old , new n fake items which are almost genuine :) ... I pick up a Nazar Bandook , a Talisman which is very intricately done , after a good bargain I picked up 3 of them only to realize I still did pay almost 1/3rd the price more more most of the shops around , Lesson Learnt : Never pick up things in first shot , scout around and pick it up unless your scared that it might get bought and yes don't bother asking the rate from other shops , learn to be satisfied :)
