Wandering Fel

Showing posts with label Turkey Nature. Show all posts

Panorama Kaptan Osman, Cappadocia

My trip to Turkey was one of the best journeys I have ever taken in my life. It is pretty sad Turkey has become kinda devastated in the tourism industry because of its recent havoc due to terrorism. Nonetheless, Turkey has always been a beautiful country. I really love my trip back then to Cappadocia. We went to this place where we can see the panoramic view of Avcilar Valley from Panorama Kaptan Osman (re: Captain Osman).

Noone knows the origin of Kaptan Osman but now, the place is also referred to as Kaptan Osman Cafe because there is a small cafe there right at the side of the valley where visitors can eat peanuts and peaches while drinking the apple tea. If you are looking for some kind of souvenirs from Turkey, the cafe also functions as souvenir store selling statue of Cappadocian houses.

A few metres from the cafe, you will find a small hut which functions as ice cream parlor. The name of the person behind the ice cream bar is not Osman though. He will play tricks to whoever buying the ice cream but it's all fun and harmless so you don't have to be wary. The Turkish ice cream tastes good.

Turkish ice cream stall at Panorama Kaptan Osman Turkey

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Our tour guide bought a few peaches for us to try. They taste sweet and juicy. Nice!

Turkish peaches at Panorama Kaptan Osman Turkey

Okay, why are we here again? Our main reason to come all the way to Panorama Kaptan Osman is not solely to enjoy eating peanuts and peaches. We come here for the panoramic view of the beautiful Avcilar Valley of Cappadocia. This kind of natural view is only one in the world and I am so grateful to be able to enjoy such beautiful view during my journey to Turkey.

Panoramic View of Avcilar Valley in Cappadocia

The sky was so clear too because we visited Turkey in the heat of the summer. If you are visiting Turkey around the same time (August), don't forget to wear a big shade and apply sunblock. It is really hot.

Summer Trip to Panorama Kaptan Osman Cappadocia

Turkey Travel: Panorama Hill Hotel, Kusadasi

There is nothing much to see at Kusadasi. We only stayed over at Kusadasi because the distance between Bursa and Pamukkale is kinda too far to cover within a day. We only arrived at our hotel in Kusadasi, Panorama Hill at wee hour, around 1AM. So we only managed to look around the hotel in the morning.

The hotel is pretty big and there is a big swimming pool in the middle of the hotel. None of us has the time to swim around though.

Swimming pool at Panorama Hill Hotel Kusadasi

The hotel is pretty much quiet because there are not many neighboring buildings. After all, Kusadasi is a beach resort town so it will not be as bustling as Istanbul or other big cities in Turkey.

From our hotel room, we can see the seaside view. The morning view from Kusadasi is wonderful.

Most of the buildings spotted near the seaside are hotels or resorts. The thing about Panorama Hill Hotel (and I heard most hotels in Turkey) is the hotel set a timer on every room's air-conditioner. Means, the air-conditioner will turn off automatically everytime the room's temperature reach a certain degree of cool-ness. This prove to be a nightmare for me who is a light sleeper because a change in temperature will awake me all the time! Grahhh!

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Turkey Travel: Hot Air Balloon at Cappadocia

After 50 minutes of waiting (see post), we finally boarded the hot air balloon and ready to fly up. I was so excited and feel that I'm reenacting scene from UP. Although there's no flying house among us here.

Boarding Hot Air Balloon at Cappadocia Turkey

The sun just rose and that made the color of the sky, the ground, and the balloons look beautiful. <3

A parade of hot air balloons at Cappadocia Turkey

When we got higher, the balloon kinda dispersed based on the wind direction. The landmark of Cappadocia is very beautiful from above. Combination of rocks and green and a few colorful balloons.

Cappadocia Nature Landscape from Hot Air Balloon Turkey

After 30 minutes or so we started to feel the sun burning. When you feel that, you know that the time to land is coming soon.

Morning ride on a hot air balloon at Cappadocia Turkey

The captain (i.e. balloon operator) will open a bottle of mock champagne (i.e. sparkling) to celebrate your inaugural hot air balloon flight. And other than that, each of the participant will receive a certificate. A proof of your flight. LOL.

Heard about a sad story about balloon accident few years back (or last year?), I hope the balloon operator do maintain and exert extra caution when flying the balloons. =(

Turkey Travel: Preparation for Hot Air Balloon Trip at Cappadocia

Woken up at 5AM in the morning is not an easy task especially if you just reach the hotel around 1AM. But for a hot air balloon trip, I was so sure my willpower is big enough to wake me up. Oh boy, I woke up late (and as a result, my roommate a.k.a. my brother, was also late). Few minutes later, we were already having our breakfast while waiting for our hot air balloon to be prepared for flying.

Simple cookie and bread to fill hungry tummy in early morning.

The balloons are still flat on the ground few minutes after we finished our breakfast.

Preparation for hot air balloon trip at Cappadocia Turkey

This is what they do to warm up the balloon. Looks a bit scary up close. Fire hazard? Hehe.

When the sun is up, all balloons are ready for boarding. Yeay!

Hot Air Balloons for boarding at Cappadocia Turkey

The view up there is gonna be so amazing I tell you. Well, with that kind of fee (i.e. USD300 per person), I hope the view is really worth the price. Let's find out at the next post! =)

Good Morning from Pamukkale Natural Park, Turkey

The next morning, we drove off pretty early from our hotel. I was still half awake but still have the willpower to snap a picture of the morning road. =P

Pretty much the road in between cities in Turkey. But our tour guide promised to bring us somewhere nice for picture taking. Can't wait. #vaintourgroup

The bus drove into the parking lot of Pamukkale Natural Park. The man in this picture is the bus driver. Haha, I unintentionally captured his picture from the back.

The tour guide didn't lie. The view from the park is breathtaking. O_O!

The water is oh-so-clear. Even the ducks are enjoying the morning sun.

I suppose this is one of the place where you can just enjoy the nature without thinking about big-city-busy-life. ^^

Turkey Travel: Ancient City of Ephesus, Selcuk

Hello! I am back after a few of slice-of-life posts. Hehehe. Hope you guys don't mind that kind of posts. =P

Do I still have posts on Turkey? You bet I do. In fact, it's gonna get better. Like this post about one of my favourite place in Turkey, Ephesus Archaeological Site.

Don't forget to take and keep your entry ticket.

Ephesus Archaelogical Site Ticket Turkey

If you love history, you will love this site. They have a lot of information available on the board for tourists.

As the city is kinda in ruins now (even after the restoration projects), most of the things that you'll see in Ephesus are...rocks and some pillars. Boring? No way. In fact, you can do a lot of awesome poses here in Ephesus. Like this one.

You can see the stone carving of goddess Nike too. She's a goddess of victory if I'm not wrong.

And the stone carving of the symbol of medical world. I suppose every doctors/ aspiring doctors in our tour group are very excited when they see this.

When you are in Ephesus, the most popular site (or ruin?) is definitely the Library of Celsus. Really an awesome site. Every tour group will definitely take a picture here. And hence, long queue to take picture. Oh well.

If you are visiting Ephesus during summer, make sure you bring your hat and sunnies as the weather can be very hot and the walk inside Ephesus is not a short one.

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