Messin’ with Texas

I was contacted by Robert and Cynthia for advice about visiting Istanbul. They found my blog online and did the right thing by asking me for advice. In return Robert offered me a brief run down of his trip to post on my blog. Hopefully Robert’s experience will be useful to other people thinking about making the same trip.

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We are just finishing up our three month stay in Turkey.
We always start out with our first week in a hostel.
We chose Cordial House which was about 50 YTL
with a shared bathroom.  During this first week, we
found a realtor with which we were comfortable, then
arranged for montly rates at furnished apartments.
In this case, we also booked Cappadocia and Ephesus.
Please note that prices mentioned vary with the seasons.

We stayed the first month (June) and it cost 2500 YTL
(about 1250 Euro, or $1,800) because the Formula One
race was in town, and the only apartment we were able
to find was on the third floor in Sultanahmet overlooking
the Bosporous.  It was beautiful, but (for us) pricey.

Our second (half) month in Sultanahmet on the bottom
floor of the same housing complex, rented for only 1500
for a month (750 YTL for two weeks).  It was smaller,
but actually quite lovely, with a private garden.

After that, we took the bus from Istanbul for tours in
Cappadocia, Konya and Ephesus.  We wanted to go in
train sleeper cars, but logistics of getting from the bus
terminal to the train terminal were difficult.  Plus, there
are changes that (since we don’t speak much Turkish)
would have been problematic.

Lodging near Cappadocia, Konya and Ephesus were
double or triple that in Istanbul, because we were staying
in hotels.  Not fancy hotels, but hotels nevertheless.

Our third month was at a seaside villa in Parkkoy, Silivri.
It was also 1500, and belonged to the man from whom
we rented our first apartment.  It was bigger than our home
in Spain, but there were NO tourist facilities AT ALL,
but the bus ran frequently from Parkkoy to Silivri, which
has everything you need.

Robert and Cynthia have started a travel-writing business
together.  Their web site is http://www.OurAdventure.EU

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