Our honeymoon
Istanbul, Cappadocia & Antalya
November 202610 nights
Two continents, one very large breakfast, and a sky full of balloons.
We had been saving for this since the rishta. Ten nights in Turkey, drawn here as a map, because Faizan kept the paper one from the hotel and Zara kept everything else.
The route
Five stops, one flight, one overnight bus we will not be taking again, and a lot of tea.
Istanbul
The Bosphorus
Cappadocia
Antalya
The coast
Days 1–3
Sultanahmet
Domes before breakfast
We walked from Hagia Sophia to the Blue Mosque and back again because the first time we were too busy looking up. A red tram, a very long lunch, and the call to prayer from three directions at once.
Zara counted the minarets. Faizan counted the simit sellers.
Sheet 1
of 5
Day 4
Istanbul
Europe to Asia for the price of a chai
We took the ferry across and back twice because the first time we were too busy feeding the seagulls. Ortaköy at sunset, with a kumpir that could feed a baraat.
Sheet 2
of 5
Our bench, every evening
Days 5–7
Göreme1,100 m
Up at four for the balloons
Faizan was sure we would be too tired. Then the sky filled with a hundred balloons and nobody said anything for a long time. We slept in a room carved out of rock.
Worth the alarm. Every one of them.
Sheet 3
of 5
Snow, and nobody else
Days 8–9
Kaleiçi
The old town by the harbour
Narrow lanes, carpets on every wall and a harbour full of wooden boats. We ate fish we could not pronounce and walked it off on the city walls.
Sheet 4
of 5
Day 10
Mediterranean
A waterfall into the sea
Our last day, spent at Düden, where the river falls straight off the cliff into the sea. We stood in the spray and agreed to come back for our tenth anniversary.
It is written down now. No backing out.
Sheet 5
of 5
The last sunset
The trip in numbers
10
nights
1,300+
kilometres
100+
balloons in one sky
41
glasses of tea
Postcards
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Our tune
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