Turkey – Page 2 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Snapshots March 29, 2013

Four Years of Travel in Review

I love to travel. If you’re read more than one blog post of mine, you’ll likely know this. I have a goal of going to 50 countries by the time I’m 50, and I’m on track – Indonesia (where we’re going in December) will be my 25th country to visit (and I’m 25). Traveling is the most exhilarating thing in the world, and as a photo-lover, the best inspiration. I look through my pictures often (and print most!) – I picked a few of my favorites from my last four years’ (international-only) travel. If you want to go to any of these places, ask me! I’d love to share advice. Have a good Good Friday!

Wanderlust January 15, 2013

Dream Job: Travel Consultant

I often think to myself, if money was not part of the life equation, what would I be doing for my job? Instead of management consulting, I would perhaps be a travel consultant. I would love more than anything to help people plan their great adventures – picking out hotels, restaurants, excursions, shows, etc. in foreign lands. I love to travel. It’s my passion. I get great excitement from experiencing new cultures, trying unknown foods, and meeting new people. I want to share that joy with people and alleviate the potential stress of trip planning.

Before Sasha and I went to Europe, I made a guide book for us. It’s very detailed, and we almost followed it to a T. I got rid of the scanned passport pictures, and uploaded where you can view my insanity here. If you are going to Greece, Turkey or France soon – I’d love to help you! I have many good ‘lessons learned’ from the vacation.

Our next trip will definitely revolve around water and relaxation (it will be a honeymoon after all!), and so I had to feature these pictures from my best-friend’s gorgeous tumblr <fourth lake>.

Snapshots December 20, 2012

Cappadocia, Turkey

We’re in Athens now, and I absolutely love it. We heard a lot of negative things about the city, but we don’t agree with them at all. One place we didn’t hear one bad word about is Cappadocia, where we spent the last two days. It’s in the middle of Turkey, on the Asian continent. We stayed at Gamirasu Cave Hotel, which was literally the coolest hotel I’ve ever been to (see pictures below). One the first day, we went to an underground cave city that is five levels into the ground. It was built in 400 BC, and later used by Christians to hid from Muslims during war times. We ate the most delicious meal at the hotel and called it a night after Sasha built a very impressive fire (Instagram pictures to prove it). The following day, we slept in and then had a driver take up to the Goreme Open Air Museum, Pigeon Valley, the Ugurp Castle, and Imagination Valley – all of which were breathtaking. Lots of pictures below as evidence!

Hot Turkish red wine – absolutely incredible

Snapshots December 19, 2012

Day Two in Istanbul

I’m playing catchup with pictures, as we don’t have the best wi-fi so it’s hard to upload pictures. Sasha and I just arrived back in Istanbul after spending two days in Cappadocia, which is in the middle of Turkey (Asian continent). It was incredible, and I’ve got lots of unique pictures to share tomorrow. As for now, I’m posting the photos from our second day in Istanbul. We did a private tour with True Blue Tour in the morning – Yilmaz was the nicest, most knowledgeable tour guide. We rode up a mountain on the Pierre Loti cable car, drank authentic apple tea, went inside a mosque and learned all about Islamic rituals, got a personal tour of the Egyptian Spice Market (met the Turkish Al Pacino – see pic below), tour a boat tour along the Bosphorus, then we on our own for the rest of the day. We bought hot chestnuts from a street vendor, walked through the Grand Bazaar, ate at the amazingly delicious Amedros Cafe, then bought lots of presents for family at the markets. We walked back to the hotel after dark and ate locally, given that we had to be up at 5am to go to the airport in the morning. I’m totally ready for friends to plan a trip to Istanbul so I can share lots of tips! More pictures to come tomorrow.

Best halloumi cheese and portobello mushroom dish on planet earth!

Wanderlust December 16, 2012

Istanbul Bucket List

What an amazing first day in Istanbul. So many wonderful bucket list places checked off: Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cisterns, the Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and Gulhane Park. We drank lots of Turkish wine and coffee, ate local foods (amazing cheese!), and walked until our feet were killing us. We’ve got a boat tour of the Bosphorus and the Grand Bazaar, so expect many more pictures. Instagram photos first…

And the non-Instagram pictures…