Posted by Seth Miller on April 13, 2012 under Flying, frequent flyer, Mileage Run | 
I’m a huge fan of Istanbul and Turkey in general. I’ve had nothing but wonderful experiences there (even with attempted scammings twice) and between the architecture, food and people it is one of my favorite places to visit and one that I return to willingly, which is a big step for me. When a visit can be had on the cheap that’s an even bigger draw. And right now there are some great deals out there for travel from the USA to Istanbul.
The deals are for the shoulder season so look for travel in September or October for great weather and even better rates. Here’s what the fare calendars look like for October, departing a few cities in the USA:
New York City
Washington, DC
Los Angeles
Chicago
In many cases the W fares on United Airlines aren’t too much more than these lowest fares (~$300 ex-EWR) and the upgrade inventory is plentiful. I’ve already confirmed my flat bed for a weekend in early October. It is going to be a lot of fun.
Tags: Chicago, Deals, Istanbul, Los Angeles, Mileage Run, New York City, Newark, Turkey, United, United Airlines, Washington DC
Posted by Seth Miller on February 22, 2012 under Trip Reports |
Break out the bunting and the balloons: it is time for a birthday party! In this case the birthday was of Istanbul‘s Tünel transit system, second oldest subway system in the world. The system is now 137 years old and, while it has seen a number of upgrades over the years, it is still more or less providing the same service as it did when it was put into service.
The Tünel connects the waterfront of Galeta to the commercial district of Taksim up on the hill. The elevation difference isn’t huge – about 60 meters – but at the time the Tünel was built there was only one narrow road connecting the two areas handling around 40,000 pedestrians daily. Something better was needed and it was delivered in January 1875, with a tunnel built into the hill and trolley cars carrying passengers up and down the hill.
The current iteration is only slightly different from the original. The original was two parallel tracks; the current version is a single track with a passing section in the middle of the run. Also, the original was (obviously) not powered by electricity. That was changed about 100 years into the life of the Tünel and the current system is electrified and climate controlled.
For the anniversary celebration the Tünel was decked out in ribbons and balloons. It was quite festive, though I was a day late for the actual party. And, while there are now many more roads connecting the two ends of the Tünel line, the funicular is still in business as part of the Istanbul mass transit network and it continues to carry folks up and down the hill every few minutes of the day.
It is a quick ride and not particularly amazing, other than that it saves walking up the big hill and the history of the tunnel is pretty impressive. I make sure to give it a ride every time I’m in town. There is another, newer funicular on the other side of Taksim Square but it doesn’t have the same history as the Tünel.
Posted by Seth Miller on February 20, 2012 under Dining, Trip Reports |
I arrived in Istanbul on a crisp, cool afternoon following a short flight in from Skopje, finally finishing off my four day journey that started in Stockholm. I had managed to parlay a single one-way award ticket into a three-night adventure where every stop was wonderful in its own way. Istanbul, however, was the jewel in the crown, so to speak. It was wonderful. It was beautiful. And it was snowing.
Apparently snow is rare in Istanbul. This was my 5th consecutive city over the previous 7 days where my arrival was heralded by snow. It was a light flurry, no real accumulation, and it gave the city a beautiful glow, over and above the regular level of amazing that its history and culture provide.
I watched the sun set as I rode the metro into town from the airport and quickly dropped my bag off in the hotel room in order to enjoy the sights at night, a view I had not previously experienced. It was awesome.
The streets of the Sultanahmet were quiet, save for the occasional taksi or streetcar rolling through. A few tourists wandered about near me but nothing like the crowds of a summer day. I was nearly alone with the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Sarai, able to celebrate them all by myself.
The cold eventually started to set in, as did hunger; it was time to find dinner. As I walked back towards my hotel – I had seen plenty of restaurants in the neighboring streets – I happened past an outdoor café with a group of musicians playing in the back. And there was just enough heat available that I figured I probably wouldn’t completely freeze. I settled in for an Iskender, an Effes and a set with the band.
I’m sure that it wasn’t the best music ever, but they were clearly enjoying themselves and that was all it took for me to also enjoy the experience. Not every night on every trip has that magical sensation. This was a special night in many ways.
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Posted by Seth Miller on January 13, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
The past week has been a busy one for carriers in the Middle East and Central Asia. In addition to the move by Saudi Arabian Airlines to join the SkyTeam alliance (covered here and here), Turkey, Pakistan and Iraq have gotten in on the action.
In Iraq a consortium of investors will be working with Greek charter carrier Viking Hellas to establish frequencies and destinations between Iraq and Europe. Most of the service will be focused on moving passengers between Western Europe and northern Iraqi cities located in the Kurdish Regional Government Area. This is notable mostly because it shows a continued growth and recovery of that market. Air service to Iraq has been quite limited for a long time now and seeing that move back a bit towards normal is quite a positive sign.
The other significant announcement this week involves the major shift in traffic between THY Turkish Airlines and Pakistan International Airline. PIA will be cutting service to New York City, Chicago, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. Customers looking to reach those destinations will now be routed on Turkish Airways-operated flights via Istanbul under a new joint venture that the two carriers recently signed.
PIA will be keeping one long-haul destination in the West with 3x weekly service to be operated from Istanbul to Houston. It is also expected that PIA will add seven weekly service frequencies to European destinations from Istanbul, either in addition to or in place of Turkish service.
Other notes from the announcement include:
- Both airlines will exclusively use catering facilities of the partner airline, when applicable, on flights between Pakistan and Turkey.
- The operating carrier will arrange special food, reading material to the taste of marketing carrier’s passengers.
- The two airlines will cooperate in maximum utilisation of each other’s engineering, maintenance and training facilities.
- The two airlines will immediately test/integrate interline e-ticketing.
- Both airlines will provide all assistance/transit/business class lounge facilities to passengers at their home stations.
So there are obvious back-office benefits to an agreement such as this one. In some ways this is just another code-sharing agreement and some minor shuffling of flight hardware to better serve passengers at both ends of the trip. But the announcement also includes this little tidbit
The two airlines will also integrate their frequent flyer programs for mutual benefit of the airlines and passengers travelling on two airlines.
Certainly it is too soon to claim that the frequent flyer programs are merging or that anything major is happening here on that front, but it does open up a number of quite interesting possibilities. Most significant, perhaps, is that aligning the loyalty programs and integrating interline e-ticketing brings about the very real possibility that PIA could make a move to join a global alliance, with Star Alliance being the most obvious target given Turkish’s membership there. The Central Asia region doesn’t have a lot of coverage from the alliances and this sort of move would be a major change on that front.
Also of note is that, while Chicago is largest global gateway in the United States for Star Alliance, Turkish does not currently offer service there. With the PIA service being cut in favor of Turkish this seems like a route that just significantly improved its odds of being announced.
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Posted by Seth Miller on December 29, 2010 under Trip Reports |
I actually enjoy the somewhat controlled chaos that comes from wandering amongst the souks in Marrakesh. Much like the bazaars of Turkey, the souks mostly appear designed to confuse and confound their visitors, eventually resulting in a sale or at least some entertaining negotiations. Watching folks come and go, checking out the various merchandise and the interactions with the merchants is enjoyable, at least to a point.
I hate negotiating on prices. Partly because I’m really bad at it and mostly because I believe in asking a fair price and not trying to screw over your customers. Either way, the process at the souks is not one that I’m good at and not one that I should engage in.
While we have to walk amongst the souks to get from our Riad to most anything else in town, today was the first time we purposefully spent any appreciable time in them on purpose. We were going shopping in hopes of finding some fun souvenirs to bring home.
Read more of this article »
Posted by Seth Miller on September 16, 2008 under Uncategorized |
I have already posted about one of the best meals we had in Turkey, and dining at Körfez was definitely amazing, but truly there wasn’t a bad meal to be had throughout the trip. Sure, some were better than others, and in some we actually understood what we were ordering, but those two didn’t always go hand in hand.
A critical component to just about every meal we had in Turkey was the tomatoes. They were amazingly sweet and ridiculously bright red – almost a candy apple color. They were present at just about every meal and they were phenomenal. Even if you don’t really like tomatoes, consider making an exception and trying them again when you go to Turkey (you are going, right?!?). You’ll be happy that you did.
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| Breakfast at Cafe Aile Salonumuz Vardir. |
On our last day in Turkey we had about 7 hours to kill during a layover in Istanbul. We used part of that time to find and ride on the 3rd oldest mass transit system in the world and most of the rest of it enjoying a relaxed breakfast at a sidewalk cafe just off the Tünel square area. We mostly were looking to try some of the breakfast pastry dishes they had available as we’d come to enjoy those quite a bit over the week. The pastries ranged from a almost croissant-like layering of dough to a noodle kugel-ish dish, but with a thinner, lighter noodle. They come in various flavors, depending on what “stuff” is put inside. We had one that was meat, one with a cheese/veggie mix and one plain one topped with powdered sugar. All three were quite delicious. Add some fresh tomatoes and cucumber and a couple glasses of tea and we were all set for the rest of that day’s travels. Considering that most places were charging 2-3 YTLs for a glass of tea, getting out of this place for 7 YTLs each was a bargain, in addition to being a good breakfast.
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| Pide and Iskender at dinner in Kayseri. |
There are two other common Turkish dishes that we had a few times, both of which I am a big fan of: the Pide and the Iskender. Pide (on the left in the picture) is a flat bread with some toppings tossed on and baked. We found them with a variety of options, from döner to veggies to pastrami. Pastrami is the local specialty in Kayseri, and it was good, but without some decent deli mustard I found it hard to really appreciate it, but I digress. Pide was generally cheap and also rather filling. The Iskender is an interesting mix of food. It is apparently named for the guy who came up with piling it all on the plate together. It starts with a layer of bread chunks (think large croutons before they are toasted) and yogurt. On top of that is a layer of döner (sliced rotisserie meat, aka gyro meat in the USA). And on top of that is a layer of slightly sweet tomato sauce. Eating it basically is an effort in not making too much of a mess as you shovel a cross-sectional slice of everything into your mouth. Yummy.
The last food product I want to mention is manti. We discovered these at a small pensione/restaurant on the road between Göreme and the Ihlara Valley (going the long way). We happened into the place and the woman of the house initially started to take our order, mostly by shaking her head no indicating that things weren’t available. We were mostly just pointing at the menu and hoping for the best so that wasn’t too big a problem, but we were quickly running out of options when the man finally came out onto the patio where we were sitting. He spoke a bit of English and indicated that some of the things we wanted were, in fact, available and admonished his wife to the kitchen to prepare our lunch. The omelette with fresh veggies was nice, but the manti were pretty amazing. They are tiny pasta bits, stuffed with meat and apparently are considered to be the original ravioli. I don’t really remember what the sauce was that we had on them but the manti were divine. So go for some of those if you have the chance.
Finally, I’d like to point out to the English-speaking world that Shish (Şiş in Turkish) is the part of Shish Kabob that means “stick.” The kabob part is a reference to the meat. So there is no such thing at a veggie kabob, chicken kabob or any other kabob that isn’t actually the kabob meat (beef, I think, but don’t hold me to that). From no on I’d appreciate it if everyone would start calling those things veggie shish or chicken shish or whatever. Your cooperation in correcting this bastardization of the language is much appreciated.
Posted by Seth Miller on September 12, 2008 under Uncategorized |
The traffic in Istanbul sucks. There is no two ways about it. The city is on the water, with the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus major impediments to travel there, funneling all traffic through a couple of bridges that are woefully undersized to handle the loads. They are apparently planning on adding an additional bridge on the Bosphorus, but that is still a ways out, as it has only just been approved by the government and the final site hasn’t yet been selected yet. A taksi from the airport to downtown is easily a 45 minute endeavor, at a rate of something around YTL30, which isn’t horrible, but also certainly isn’t cheap by any stretch. The roads are just ridiculously crowded. Not quite as bad as Delhi or Saigon, but close.
Fortunately, they have a pretty solid mass transit system in place. And we rode a lot of it. We didn’t take a bus in Istanbul, but there are plenty of them and it seems there is pretty reliable route coverage and frequencies. Similarly, the ferries cover the water crossings way better than a car possibly could; as busy as the waterways are they are still way better than the bridges. There is even an aerial cable car that operates just below the Hilton Hotel near Taksim Square, crossing over a park for those who don’t want to walk or drive around to the other side. Those are the pieces we didn’t get to try, but there are plenty that we did.
There is a Metro system – actually a few light rail systems that connect at transfer points – that cover the city, from the airport in the West to the Sultanhamet to the Beygolu area across the Golden Horn. There’s another tram system that runs on the Asian side as well, with easy ferry connections. With trains running about every 10 minutes and air conditioned, modern cars the light rail was truly phenomenal. From the airport to the Sultanhamet area was about a 45 minute trip, the same as a taksi, and the cost was two tokens – YTL 2.80 – per person. The one thing that is a bit annoying is that transfer between the various lines requires a new token and fare to be paid, but that’s a minor inconvenience considering how convenient the trams are to the vast majority of the areas that most folks want to visit.
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| The engine that drives the funicular. |
There are also a couple funiculars (inclined trains) that run in the Beygolu area. One of them is almost brand new (~10 years old) and the other is actually the third oldest mass transit system in the world (behind London and a now defunct Brooklyn route), over 130 years old. We tried to ride on both one day and managed to find the new one pretty easily, but the older one was elusive. As we departed Istanbul for Cappadocia we actually still hadn’t found it. As we had a 7 hour connection on our return through Istanbul, however, we had a second chance to find the old one and ride a piece of history.
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| The tunnel for the older funicular route. |
The older funicular was more fun, with the tunnel looking its age and the tram car somewhat newer, but not a ton. And we managed to take the Metro in from the airport, ride the funicular up to the Tunel Square area, have a very long and relaxing brunch and repeat the trip in reverse in about 5 hours. Plus the old funicular has a different fare, YTL 0.90, so we had to buy a different token and that meant another fun souvenir for me. I’ve now ridden on at least the three oldest, so I need to find out what the rest of the old ones are and start planning some new trips.
They also seem to have a “tap-and-go” system where you can put money on a card/pass of some sort rather than buying individual tokens. I certainly don’t speak enough Turkish to try to figure out how that works, but it seems like an easier option if you don’t want to mess with tokens during a visit, though I have no idea if there is a charge for the card and/or a discount for using it.
I’m a big fan of mass transit in general, and even more so when it goes to/from the airport. This wasn’t as easy as the Metro in Washington, DC or BART in San Francisco, but it was pretty darn close, and it was way cheaper and mostly easier than a taksi in from the airport. It will definitely be my transit choice next time I’m in Istanbul.
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| The view inside the car of the newer funicular. |
The platform for the newer run. |
Posted by Seth Miller on September 11, 2008 under Uncategorized |
As we drove from Goreme to the Ihlara valley one of the repeating scenes on the roadside were the farms. Mostly they seemed to be gourds of various sorts growing in the fields, but there were also many, many patches of sunflowers interspersed. They weren’t particularly large, and I’m not sure if they were there for commercial or other reasons, but they were quite amazing to see.
At one point I decided that taking some pictures of them was a good idea. Well, I decided that as soon as I saw one, but finding one where I could pull off the road easily was a bit harder. We finally found one here (worthless link unless you want to see the GPS coordinates) and I managed to pull off the road and into a driveway pretty easily. I wandered the 50 yards or so into the field and started snapping away.
As luck would have it, I managed to pick a field where there were actually a few guys out working and tending to the gourds. One of them spoke English and we had a great conversation. He gave me a sunflower to take home with me and we exchanged email addresses, too. All in all a very nice experience. Plus, I got some great photos out of the deal.
More of the pictures can be found here.
Posted by Seth Miller on September 8, 2008 under Uncategorized |
One of my favorite simple treats for myself is a shave at the barber shop. The hot towel, fresh lather and straight-blade make for a great experience, and usually a pretty decent shave as well. Since I’m generally pretty lazy about shaving on my own while on vacation I had a couple days’ stubble by the time we got to Kayseri, and following the kilim shopping I had a bit of time before we were going to be able to get dinner and the kid doing the selling was still around, so I convinced him to help me find a barber and get a shave.
We wandered across the town square and over to the less touristy part of the area and he managed to find a barber shop that was open and had a seat open. The shave experience was somewhat different than I usually have in the US. The guy studied my neck and chin for a couple minutes to get a feel for just how bad it was going to be and then began to lather me up with a brush just like it should be. He actually used his hand to collect the detritus off of the razor after each stroke, collecting a handful of stubble and cream with a smooth motion that culminated in the whole of it being tossed into the sink and him starting anew on another section of my face. He moved quickly and deliberately and was incredibly thorough in the effort. Apparently he wasn’t satisfied after the first pass because he actually lathered me up again and made a second run across my face to clean things up even more.
The aftershave was particularly exhilarating. I know that it is mostly alcohol and that it is supposed to burn. But this stuff was way more exciting than I normally get. I made it through the aftershave and kept my composure, but that was definitely a challenge.
And then I was done. A quick banter between the barber and my translator and I found that the cost for the service was 5 Lira, or about USD$4.25. Not a bad deal, and a heck of a lot less than I generally pay at home, plus a better shave and a much better experience, too.
Posted by Seth Miller on September 3, 2008 under Trip Reports |
I will fear no troubles and need no guide.
If you happen to find yourself in the Cappadocia region of Turkey there are a few things that are not to be missed. There is the Goreme open air museum and the Valley of the Swords right next door, both of which show off some of the amazing cave dwellings that have withstood the sands of time. There’s also the underground cities that are pretty amazing to wander through, but don’t wander too far. If you get lost finding your way out may prove difficult. And don’t go if you’re claustrophobic or particularly large. There were some halls that we were struggling to get through and we’re both of reasonable size if not a bit tall.
And then there is the Ihlara Valley. Ihlara is a small town about an hour or so from Goreme and it represents the base of a beautiful hike along the side of a river that rests at the bottom of a gorge thousands of years old. It isn’t the Grand Canyon at all, so don’t go expecting something like that, but the canyon walls reach up a couple hundred feet and the area at the bottom is plenty wide for the river as well as hiking paths and, in some areas, fields for farming. It is the canyon walls that are half of the attraction for the hike, for within them there are churches that were carved in the 11th-13th centuries that still exist in various states of disrepair, but all of them well marked along the path and reasonably accessibly.
Hiking the Ihlara Valley is a cornerstone component of most of the day tours in the region, so you can always get to see it that way, but better than that is to do it on your own. It is incredibly well traveled so wandering off the path is virtually impossible. It follows a river, so you can’t really make a wrong turn. And it is great to be able to move at your own pace and take breaks when and you want to along the way. We hiked from the put-in just north of the Ihlara village all the way to the top end of the trail at Selime in about four hours. And that included a stop of about an hour in Belisirma (the middle of the three towns along the path) for a morning tea taken in a bungalow set up in the middle of the stream. Plus I stopped to take plenty of pictures. So really, the hike isn’t all that long, and it truly is beautiful.
The only down-side of doing it on your own is getting there and back. Ihlara is not in the same bus service region as Goreme, so that means you need to take a bus up to Nevsehir and then over to Aksaray and then down to Ihlara, a three-hour or more adventure, or you need to rent a car, which is what we did. Certainly not the cheapest way to do it, especially with fuel at over $10/gallon (YTL$3/litre) here, but it gave us the flexibility we needed and time was a bigger issue for us than the cost at that point.
So make the hike and do it on your own. Way more enjoyable than doing it with a guide, in my opinion.
Also, more pictures coming when Internet service is a bit more reliable, but hopefully these will help whet your appetite for the hike.
