Galata Kulesi / Galata Tower

Posted on January 29, 2020 by livingtheturkishdream

Galata Tower was top of my list of things to visit in Istanbul, and I wasn’t disappointed!

Built in 1348, it was the tallest building in Istanbul at the time – 220ft. It was designed with a military purpose, so it’s stone walls are 12ft thick. During peaceful periods, the tower’s main purpose changed, and it became a watch tower to spot city fires – so it’s ironic that it was damaged severely by a few fires itself. The tower was also damaged, repaired and altered several times over hundreds of years thanks to earthquakes and storms. In the mid 1960’s it was restored to it’s previous glory and opened to the public, with an observation deck boasting 360o views over the city.

We walked to the tower from Galata Bridge and oh my god, the stairs up towards it were a killer – even the pretty colours they were painted wasn’t much of a distraction, I had to stop half way up to recover – there must have been an easier way!

At the top of the steps there were some cute cafes and shops, and the street was narrow and cobbled. The shops were selling homemade goods, souvenirs, coffee, and a lot of the walls were painted with interesting street art, I couldn’t fully appreciate it as I was trying to get my breath back!

When we got to the top and turned the corner, I was so glad to finally see Galata Tower, and the walk up the steep steps had definitely been worth it. Built of stone, it’s quite a beast, and when you stand next to it looking up at it towering over you, it’s very impressive. It dominates the Karaköy skyline, looking beautiful both at day and at night.

Everything I had read online and from friends, said that you can queue up for hours to enter as it’s so popular, even in winter, so we headed there in the morning at around 9:30am, and there was no queue whatsoever. We paid our fee to enter (I think its around 20tl for tourists, but for those with Turkish ID cards, it’s 10tl – I managed to sneak in for the lower price when Berkay flashed his ID and told them I was his wife!)

Thankfully, there’s a small but beautifully tiled lift inside that takes you close to the top of the tower, but you still have to walk up two twisty, narrow flights of stairs to reach the observation area – there’s also a restaurant inside up there too.

The outside observation area is very narrow, in some places only one person could fit through, and you had to really lean onto the railings to let someone squeeze past – not the safest, especially when people aren’t patient or can’t follow the staff that tell you to only go around in a clockwise direction!

It’s fascinating to think about all the things the Tower must have been witness to in it’s 600 years of existence. The views are absolutely stunning. Our morning was a bit hazy, but we could point out things like Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and Süleymaniye Mosque easily.

You can really see the mix of old and new from up there, modern sky scrapers in the distance and old, colourful houses and buildings all around the city. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the early morning sun shining down on me, coupled with the fact I was still sweating from the walk to the tower, meant I took my coat off – but don’t be fooled, it was cold, especially when we got to the parts in the shade!

After spending some time at the top taking photos and being in awe of the view, we headed back down the stairs to where the lifts are on the 7th floor – I spotted the toilets and decided I really needed a wee. As odd as it sounds, the toilets were so cute, they even had a little window peering through the stone wall of the tower. The whole thing really reminded me of Rapunzel, so the Disney geek inside me loved it!

There’s a little shop at the bottom of the tower inside the entrance/exit and I got a cute, mini tower ornament which is sat on display in my living room.

If we go back again I’d love to go to the tower again in the evening, around sunset, because the views would be even more stunning!

P.S click on any of the photos above to enlarge them and see them in all their glory! 🙂

Four days in Istanbul…

Posted on January 19, 2020 by livingtheturkishdream

It’s been almost a year since my last post on this blog – but thanks to a trip to Istanbul last week, I have a lot of new material and photos to post!

I’ve wanted to go to Istanbul for years, but Berkay was never really keen to go, and we didn’t really have time, anytime we go to Turkey we just go back to Fethiye, because it feels like ‘going home’.

One day in November Berkay messaged me at work and said he wanted to go to Turkey in January, so I said lets go to Istanbul and he agreed.. when I got home from work that evening we booked our flights and hotel before he had a chance to change his mind!

We flew to Sabiha Gökçen airport on 10th January and I flew back to London again on 14th – so it was a very swift but very busy four day visit! Berkay is still in Turkey now as he has gone to visit his family in the village for a few days.

Despite living in busy London ourselves, I thought that a city as busy as Istanbul might be a bit overwhelming, especially as we had no idea where to go and where things were, or how to get around, but we found public transport in the form of trams, buses and ferries really easy and cheap and it was fun finding our way around a new place.

People kept telling me that because we landed at 5pm, we would be stuck in rush hour traffic for hours on the transfer to our hotel, but it actually only took an hour and a half which is pretty good going! The funniest thing for me was being sat in the car in traffic, seeing people stood out on the road, in between lanes,surrounded by cars, selling things like light up balloons, snacks and bottles of water – I have never seen that before, I suppose it might keep the kids quiet if they had been sat in traffic for ages though!

We stayed in the ‘Old City’ – Sultanahmet. Our hotel was basic but nice, and right next to Sultanahmet square and the Blue Mosque. We had a rooftop area where breakfast was served and the views were lovely! Berkay was surprised by how many foreign tourists were there considering it was winter. In the Sultanahmet area there were definitely more tourists than locals, and when walking past shops and restaurants everyone spoke to us in English because they didn’t expect either of us to be Turkish. One night we ate in a lokanta restaurant and even they assumed Berkay wasn’t Turkish because they asked him if he understood the language, which he thought was really weird!

I am so glad we visited in winter. It was cold, around 7oc during the day and 2oc at night, but it was mostly sunny and we only had one night of rain. I’m not sure I could cope with the heat in the city in summer and we wouldn’t have been able to do all the walking we done – we did about 50,000 steps over the first two days! It was nice being able to wrap up in our coats and hats and wander around without being too hot or sweaty!

I carefully planned every day of our trip with a list of things to see, I did a lot of research before hand, writing down places to visit and checking on the map how far away things were from each other and the best order to do things in and which routes to take – I wrote down how much museums and attractions would cost so that we had an idea of how much money we’d need with us each day too. It worked out really well because without the little plan I’d made we would have woken up each day without a clue where we were going, even Berkay reluctantly admitted that my careful planning was a good idea!

We managed to see everything on my list and more, which I was so glad about. My feet got blisters and my legs ached (why did nobody tell me how hilly Istanbul is!?!) but it was definitely worth it and the 4 days went by fairly slowly so we managed to pack so much in, and even had time for some afternoon naps. The first afternoon we were there we were laying on the bed catching up on social media when the bed started wobbling – we both blamed each other for shaking it and then realised that it was actually a earth tremor, but thankfully only a small one at 4.8 on the scale. Still, enough to remind me that whilst in Turkey you can never really fully trust the ground you walk on, and I do not miss going to bed everynight with earthquakes on my mind!

We managed to visit Galata Bridge, Galata Tower, Istiklal street, St Antoine’s church, Taksim Square, Dolmabahçe Palace, Basilica cistern, Topkapı Palace, Aya Sofya, Eminönü, the Spice Bazaar, the Blue Mosque, Istiklal Street at night, Balat and saw famous Turkish actors filming for a tv series – Çukur, Bulgarian St Stephen’s church, a boat trip down the Bosphorus, Suleymaniye Mosque & the Grand Bazaar.

Everything was so beautiful and I took over 1000 photos – I’m excited to finally have new things to write about, so come back for new posts soon! 🙂

Visa renewal time – an unfair system?

Posted on March 3, 2019 by livingtheturkishdream

It’s been a few months since I posted on my blog, now its 2019 and it’s March already, can you believe it?!

Now that we’re already into the 3rd month of the year, it’s time to start thinking about renewing Berkay’s visa. He arrived at the end of 2016, on the ‘spouse visa’ which enables him to live and work in the UK for just over two and a half years. It cost around £2500 at the time, and when we got it, there was that relief of knowing there were no more visas to worry about for two years! Of course, now those two years have flown by and its time to start gathering all the paperwork, and money, to renew it!

I think visas are one of those things that nobody really understands the process of, until they know someone who has gone through it. I think people assume its easy for people to come to the UK, we’ve all read those newspaper reports about ‘foreigners coming here, getting our benefits’ etc. I probably had those misconceptions before too, to be honest.

Even though me and Berkay have been together for nearly nine years, and he has been living here, working for two and a half years, applying for the extension of his visa is still stressful and full of uncertainty. It’s not just a case of filling out an application form and ticking a few boxes – it’s a lot of work.

When he initially applied for the visa two and a half years ago, Berkay had to pass an English exam. To renew it, he has to pass a higher level exam, which he will actually be sitting this week – that’s not cheap either, £150, so fingers crossed he passes or he will have to keep trying and paying out for it.

Then there’s the cost involved – the application fee is £1033 currently, but this will go up again in April as it does every year. There’s also a NHS surcharge, which has just doubled from £500 to £1000…despite the fact that Berkay earns a fair wage (he found a job within three weeks of arriving in the country..) and pays national insurance like everyone else in the country with a job, he has to pay this £1000 towards the NHS as part of the application, so essentially he’s contributing twice! If any of you reading this have heard people say before ‘foreigners come here to use our NHS for free’ please inform them of this! I can understand if he wasn’t earning and needed to contribute something so that he wasn’t just coming here for the sole purpose of abusing the National Health Service, but when he’s already paying taxes and national insurance every week this seems very unfair!

So, total so far is £2033 + £150 for the English test, assuming he only needs one attempt at passing, but the fee’s don’t end there either… If he applies via the standard service, it can take months and months to get a decision, and they keep his passport all that time, so if there was ever a family emergency in Turkey, or he wanted to travel for whatever reason, he wouldn’t be able to, which leaves the option of paying a further £630 for a priority service, with a faster decision within a few days. So, £2033 + £150 + £630 = £2813, before travel costs to the visa application centre in London, sometimes they charge extra for the appointments where you hand over the documents, also! With the fee going up again in April, we will undoubtedly be paying over £3000 for this visa extension.

Perhaps finding the money to apply is the easy part. We also have to prove our relationship is genuine, with letters of support from friends and family, evidence we live together in the form of letters and bills addressed jointly to us at our address, spread across over the two and a half years he’s been in the country, to show that we have consistently lived together. Luckily, I knew that this was a requirement so I have folders of letters filed under my bed in preparation for this! We also have to prove we have the right to live in the property, with land registry documents, mortgage statements etc, and proof that we meet the £18,600 income requirement, with evidence in the form of payslips, work contracts, a letter from my HR department, etc etc!

Once this visa is granted (fingers crossed!) we will have to go through the same thing again in another two years time, only next time Berkay will have to pass a further test, a ‘life in the UK’ multiple choice exam paper, with general knowledge questions such as ‘when was Hadrians wall built?’, ‘how many members of the Scottish Parliament are there?’ and ‘When did the first Christian communities appear in Britain?’ – questions that seem better fitted for contestants on ‘The Chase’, rather than someone wanting to settle in the UK – I don’t know many Brits that would pass this 24 question test, by getting 75% correct.

As you can see, we have a busy couple of months ahead, getting all this paperwork organised, scanned and written, so that when we are able to apply in May/June, we are ready to do so. I’m not really complaining about the process, I understand that rules have to be in place, but everyone I explain this process to, unless they know someone who has done it themselves, seems to be shocked when I tell them what it entails. With Brexit bringing out the worst in people recently, I have seen more and more people stating that ‘UK has no control of its borders, no immigration rules, no checks on people entering the country’ – I’m writing this post in the hope that if any of my readers believed this before, or have heard people making these assumptions, please, educate them and tell them you know differently!

It is very frustrating, handing over piles of paperwork to a complete stranger, to judge us based on the evidence they have in front of them, like we are some sort of criminals, and pay them £3000 for the privilege or believing we are genuine, or not.

The Christmas Poinsettia – Ataturk Çiçeği

Posted on December 23, 2018 by livingtheturkishdream

It’s that time of year, Christmas Eve, Eve, in fact! Where festive things are all around, twinkling lights, pretty trees, tinsel, enough food to feed the 5000, endless tubs of chocolates, and perhaps a poinsettia or two!

It’s the latter that I want to talk about – up until last year I had no idea that our festive red poinsettias have a link to Turkey, and not the kind that forms our Christmas dinner!

In Turkey these beautiful flowers are called ‘Ataturk Çiçeği’. I have read that they were Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s (founding father of Turkey) favourite flower, and named in his honour as he encouraged the cultivation of them in the country – the beautiful red colour certainly matches well with the Turkish flag, doesn’t it?

I have 3 poinsettias adorning my table at the moment, a deep pink one which was a gift from a friend, a glittering, sparkly red one, and the one in the middle which is almost completely green, and overgrowing, as it has been in my house since last Christmas! When I got it last year it was red and glittery like my new one, and reduced to £1.50 in Tesco, so a real bargain! It’s not red anymore, though I have that read sticking it in a dark place for 12 hours a day will make the leaves turn red again so maybe I will try that… I tried to jazz it up with some fake berries. I’m amazed I managed to keep it alive, I’m not very good with plants… I’m a big fan of Christmas and start getting excited about it half way through the year, so I joked that the only reason it was still alive is because it’s always Christmas in my heart… of course Berkay said no, it’s because Ataturk is always in his!

Two village weddings, some bizarre traditions and saying goodbye to the summer..

Posted on November 5, 2018 by livingtheturkishdream

Last Wednesday we returned from our end-of-season trip to Turkey. We wouldn’t normally visit so late in the year, but we mainly went out for Berkay’s brother’s wedding. Berkay went out 5 days before me to help with wedding preparations, and then I flew out the day the wedding celebrations began (all 3 days of it)…. I missed the actual ceremony as that was earlier in the week, but was there for 2 full days of wedding parties, one in the brides village, one in the grooms. It involved some bizarre traditions, like men beating the groom, having him dress up in women’s clothes then cooking his wife an egg… Thousands of people came to the family home and the final night ended in a few tears after police were called and closed down the wedding due to several fights…… Honestly, if I didn’t have photographic evidence of all this stuff you’d all think I was making it up…

Anyway, after surviving 4 nights in the village, with the help of some ‘rescue remedy’ drops (seriously…) I breathed a huge sigh of relief when it was finally time to drive to Calis. Berkay’s brother and his new wife came with us for a few days too. We stayed in our favourite hotel, Jiva Beach Resort, which was lovely but also not without its surprises, partly because there was a loud, intimidating, narcotics anonymous convention in the hotel for a few days while we were there, with people from all over the world gathering… After a few days, that was over and during the end of our stay we were one of very few occupied rooms left…in fact, we checked out the morning the hotel closed for winter, so we had a very quiet last two days and practically had the hotel to ourselves! In amongst all that, we did the usual things, watched some beautiful sunsets, visited some old friends, made some new furry 4 legged ones and ate a lot of food! We also had some new experiences, visiting the new beautiful park in Calis/Fethiye was definitely a highlight, as well as hopping over to Sovalye Island for lunch, a first for us! Also somewhere amongst all the fun, we’re sure Berkay broke his toe.

As with everything, all good things must come to an end. Saying goodbye to our family and friends is horrible. Even saying bye to the hotel staff was hard, its funny how quickly you get into a routine of doing things and seeing people and then it’s hard to leave them all behind and go back to reality! I could never be one of those seasonal workers, making friends and knowing you’ll probably never see them again…I know they’re used to it and probably don’t really care about the people going and coming, but even for them I think it felt a bit weird right at the end of the season, there was definitely a strange atmosphere around! The hardest goodbye of all, was when we left the village and had to say bye to our Boncuk dog, she had the happiest face when we were around, and the morning we were leaving she just knew, she had the saddest face ever and she just broke my heart!

While we were out there, the clocks went back in the UK, but stayed the same out in Turkey, meaning the time difference is now 3 hours, long enough to leave us with a little jet lag on our return!

All in all, it was a good 12 days away, even if a little….very…stressful at times… It was the perfect end to the summer.

~~Now we’re home it’s full on CHRISTMAS mode…~~

The scenic route to Iztuzu Beach…

Posted on September 23, 2018 by livingtheturkishdream

Iztuzu Beach, an arc shaped 5km stretch of sand on the Mediterranean coast, is accessible from Dalyan in two ways – either by boat, which takes you to one end of the beach, or by car/bus which takes you to the opposite end. For me, as nice as the river boat is, it’s even more spectacular to go by car, passing by the beautiful, serene, Lake Sülüngür on the way.

As you follow the road higher along the mountain road, among the pine trees, you are greeted with beautiful views of the beach. It looks really impressive and you can really see the shape it forms, a fairly narrow beach, with a small lagoon behind it at one end, and the reeds and Dalyan river behind it at the other.

The reason we chose to drive on that day was to visit the Turtle hospital which is at this end of the beach. The hospital is towards the back of the beach, overlooking the lagoon with equally stunning views – mountains in the distance, trees and beautiful pink flowers in the foreground, reeds, and that calm, still water, just beautiful!

Another bonus of driving, is the chance of getting a closer look at the wildlife. On our way back along the mountain road, we saw a tortoise minding his own business trying to cross to the other side (I’m sure there’s a ‘why did the tortoise cross the road’ joke in there somewhere!). Berkay stopped the car and helped him along his way, saving him from inevitably getting run over. I love how the tortoise’s legs are just dangling in these photos, bless him, I’m sure he was grateful for the little intervention!

Looking out over Ölüdeniz…

Posted on September 19, 2018 by livingtheturkishdream

Back in June we made the most of having the rental car by driving around and visiting various places. One of them being the look out point at the start of the Lycian Way, over looking Ölüdeniz.

We drove a little way up the mountain road, parked up and walked for about 5 minutes to the look out point, passing an old abandoned tent on the way! It involves climbing up a few rocks and it’s steep and bumpy under your feet so you need to wear decent shoes, not flip flops! We went on a particularly hot day and thanks to my Fit-bit, I could see my heart rate rising a lot, it was quite hard work in the heat!

When you climb down the other side of the rocks, you’re greeted with this beautiful view…

I’ve never really been a fan of Ölüdeniz, controversial I know! At ground level, I don’t think its that impressive, but from above it’s really stunning. Because it was so hot the day we went, it was very hazy so my photos aren’t the clearest, and they were only taken on my phone, but I have taken higher quality, better ones on my camera before and posted them HERE a few years ago if you want to take a look. Photos don’t really do it justice though!

The view of the lagoon is lovely, and the sea to the left hand side is an impressive shade of blue. You can hear people playing in the swimming pools at the various hotels at the foot of the mountain, watch the boats sailing, or people walking along the beach. I love the mountains in the distance too, just a shame it was hazy.

Of course, as with most patches of natural beauty, human interference has had an impact. While trying to enjoy the view, we couldn’t not notice the amount of rubbish in the area – carrier bags, beer bottles, cigarette packets, food packets, water bottles, and the charred remains of various fires people had lit for BBQ’s! It really spoiled it, and Berkay decided to do his bit and went around with a couple of empty bags collecting a lot of the rubbish up… It’s sad everyone doesn’t take their own rubbish with them!

You can access the road leading up to the look out point by foot or by car, but you have to walk the last little bit. It’s worth the effort for the view, and nice to see Ölüdeniz from a different angle.

Panoramic views of Fethiye

Posted on August 11, 2018 by livingtheturkishdream

If you want beautiful, panoramic views of Fethiye, a good place to head to is ‘Aşıklar Tepesi’ – roughly translated to ‘hill of lovers’. You can reach it by car, up a very steep winding hill road, or via foot, up 163 steps from a backstreet below.

Whenever we rent a car, we usually drive up and pull over for a while so that we can take in the views, and on our last trip we did that twice.

The view at the top is just stunning. The boat yard, harbour and amphitheatre to the left, the main bay, marina and town in the centre, and Calis in the distance to the right. All the buildings, especially the more traditional houses with white walls and red/orange roofs look good from high above too. You can see various mountain ranges in the far distance and the trees growing on the hillside just frame the view perfectly.

There are wooden seating areas hanging over the edge, some of them are very rustic and wobbly and I’m always a bit afraid of them breaking! There used to be a little cafe up there but it’s been gone for a few years now and it still looks a bit of a mess really. You’ll also find piles and piles of sunflower seed shells on the floor, since it’s a popular place for locals to come and sit with a packet of them, a beer and their friends. You can sit here for ages, watching the boats sail in and out, but it’s equally as spectacular at night with the whole of Fethiye lit up down below.

On the last day of our holiday back in June, Berkay’s family came to visit for the day since it was Bayram/Eid, so we took them up to the look out point and sat at a table with a couple of bottles of coke and some ice creams. His step-mum was too scared to stand too close to the edge so she took this photo of the rest of us instead, Berkay’s dad, brother, his brother’s fiancee and us.

Going, going, gone.. A Calis Beach sunset.

Posted on July 30, 2018 by livingtheturkishdream

Anyone who has been following my blog for a while will know that my favourite thing to do in Turkey is watch a sunset, and there is no better place to do that than in Calis!

There’s just something special about sitting on the beach watching the sun slowly shrink and disappear, at the end of another day.

Cloudy sunsets are particularly impressive, but this was on a clear day back in June, although a bit hazy due to the heat. I stood on the sand in front of Jiva Beach hotel, pointed my camera and snapped photos as the sun disappeared behind the mountains and hills in the far distance, going from a full circle to a tiny red slither, leaving an orange glowing sky behind. I love the slow gradient from red to all shades of orange, so perfect, as if straight off of an artists paintbrush onto a canvas.

People were swimming in the sea admiring the sunset for themselves too, so there are a few heads bobbing around in my photos!

Apparently, watching the sunset can have actual benefits on our health and attitude. Not only does it get us outside in the fresh air, but it’s also inspiring and reminds us that we should be thankful for each day, for each morning the sun rises and each evening the sun sets. Watching a sunset can apparently also be a stress reliever, as we watch the sun disappear it can help us feel like the weight of the worries and stress of the day is lifted from our shoulders, we can put the troubles of the day behind us. The soft orange glow of the sky can help us see things in a new light, and notice the beauty in things that the harsh daylight can make us easily miss.

In the summer the sun sets towards the right hand side of the beach, so its partially blocked by the hill, but it still looks beautiful. In winter months however, the sun sets right on the horizon, right in the middle of the sea as you look at it from Calis Beach, I haven’t seen one of those kinds of sunsets for a few years, perhaps in October…

Dalyan – Dinner with a view, nightlife and something for everyone.

Posted on July 28, 2018 by livingtheturkishdream

Aside from the beach, neither Berkay or I had visited Dalyan before, so when we had the chance to spend the night there we tried to make the most of it!

After coming back from the beach on the boat, I really fancied fish for dinner. Overwhelmed by the amount of restaurants to chose from, I messaged one of my Facebook friends who lives in Dalyan and she recommended we go to a restaurant called ‘Casa Nova’, where her husband works. So, off we went to find that restaurant and we were not disappointed! The whole restaurant was really nicely decorated and looked really fancy. Note the sign – you will see pomegranate signs and decorations everywhere in Dalyan as it is famous for its pomegranate growing, with millions of trees producing the fruit in the area.

The restaurant had a main menu to chose from, but also a cabinet full of fresh fish. We decided to share one as it was quite big! I can’t remember what kind of fish it was, but all I know is that when grilled and served it was very yummy! It was served with onions and tomatoes and chips, along with the side salad, bread, dips and olives we had already been given. My friend had also arranged for us to have a fruit plate for dessert, courtesy of her, bless!

The location couldn’t have been better either, a lot of the tables were already reserved but we managed to get one right on the waters edge, so we had a beautiful view while we were eating – we got to watch the sun go down behind the rocks, boats sail past and admire the floating garden boat while we ate, too! Considering how lovely the setting and the food was, the bill was very reasonable, so I definitely recommend it.

After dinner, we walked around the town centre, trying not to get lost! At night the roads are blocked off to traffic so you can wander around the many streets and side streets of the main town centre safely – it’s like a square maze of restaurants, bars and shops. There seemed to be the perfect mix of everything, something for everyone. Cocktail bars, coffee shops, souvenir shops, restaurants, and bakeries!

We stopped at one bakery for some cake, as they just looked too good to resist, but they were quite expensive, 30tl for 2 pieces, which shocked Berkay. He still talks about it now, “if i think about that expensive cake I can’t sleep”! I guess Dalyan is a little more expensive than what we’re used to in Calis and Fethiye.

By night, Dalyan still looks pretty, especially the rock tombs lit up, and the mosque in the town centre. I also loved that they had a little cat garden with beds safe for street cats and a bird house which seemed to be very popular with local pigeons!

We stayed at the Tezcan hotel, right on the waterfront by the marina. It was fairly basic but had clean rooms and a good buffet breakfast and was in a perfect location. The next morning before we left, we went for a stroll along the marina with a bag of dog and cat food and fed some of the local stray animals. It was so peaceful in the morning.

Over all I really liked Dalyan, the beach, the river, the scenery, nightlife, restaurants… there was definitely something for everyone and it caters for all kinds of tourists. A really lovely place!