Pamukkale

Pamukkale is a place in city Denizli,Turkey. the word literally means "cotton and castle". The place is a UNESCO heritage and one of the places that is just underrated. Its one those places which your eyes just unable to capture all the beauty, you keep turning your heads and each side is unique.

Its a mountain with hot spring water and the flowing water leaves the limestone  layer. There are multiple water springs and the temperature of water ranges from 35 to nearly 70C. The water is flowing downwards and gets cool very quickly.

The limestone water is considered good for skin so you will find a lot of ladies in bikini trying to get the skin cured from the hot spring water, the water pools are not deep and sometimes its interesting to see how people care fro there skin. Its hard to have a quiet corner and sit and enjoy the relaxing water flowing sound and cool breeze on your face, but the walk on these stones is just a experience of a life time, 

The whole area is covered by fence and there is a ticket of 20Tl and there are multiple transport services to reach here by some tour service or DOLMUS ( public van) from the city Denizli can cost nearly 2 dollar.

In the whole area, you are not allowed to wear your shoes, so that you don't destroy the natural layers of limestone. Most the people are in swim clothes even you cant swim in shallow pools but a good place to make your self wet and take a sunbath. 

The stones are white in color and seems very slippery but actually they are not and even at steep slopes you can walk easily, I don't recommend for old people as they may slip and some stones have sharp edges.

Recommended time for travelling should be in spring or early winter. Don't miss the sunset form the top of Pamukkale.

Izmir

Izmir is third most populous city of Turkey and located extreme west of Turkey coast near the Greece islands. The city has beautiful shore line and surrounding mountains.The city is one of the famous destination for tourist in Turkey and is easily accessible by Air, Bus and Trains.

 The Airport (Adnan Menderes) is located south of the city and easiest way is to take Havas Bus from airport to center costing nearly 20 lira and takes nearly 50 min (more info at http://www.havas.net/en/Pages/default.aspx) . The subway goes from front of the Domestic terminal and arrives at Torbali as final stop (more info at http://www.izmirmetro.com.tr/) . Bus services (Route nos. 200, 202 and 204) from Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport are provided by General Directorate of ESHOT of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality.

Route 200; Mavisehir, Airport
Route 202; Alsancak Cumhuriyet Avenue, Airport
Route 204; Izotas (Bornova - subway - bus station), Airport
more information can be found at www.eshot.gov.tr

The city has two famous universities which was the actual reason for me to visit the city. 

1-Ege University

2- Dokuz Eylul University

Ege university is on the Metro line and easy to access from the center where as the Dokuz Eylul is south of the city and  has four main campus areas .; Tınaztepe, Dokuzçeşmeler, Buca Eğitim and İnciraltı. Industrial Engineering Department is in Tınaztepe campus in Buca.

Tınaztepe Campus

In this campus there are Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Faculty of Business, Institute of Social Sciences, Faculty of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Maritime Faculty. Also main library is in this campus. There are many buses and Dolmus going there but take help from someone as it is quite complicated some times from the place you take it.

Both universities are state of the art and has many research and study opportunities. Ege university is old and very wide spread where as Dokuz Eylul uni is relatively new and campus area is very nicely made.

Things to see

The city is big and very wide spread, you can chose from beaches, center, shopping or museums.

The major things you shouldn't avoid are

1. Saat Kulesi (Clock Tower)
2. Konak Square
3. Synagogue Street (Havra Sokagi)
4. Bostanli Pazari
5. Kordonboyu
6. Beaches (cesme)
7. Trip to Ephesus

Its a nice city and has a lot of ancient sites and buildings, the Greek style old houses are very common and culture is very similar to European style. The foods places are mostly crowded and many coffee and teas houses are there to offer a unique experience of tea or coffee in center of Bazaar with traditional setup.

Find below some interesting photos from the city.

some old Greek style houses still remain on the coast

 Izmir sahil

 Ferry boat to cross the sea

 Municipal is not very good inside the city

 wonderful street with aligned trees

 Horses near the main KONAK square for sight seeing

 monument of Izmir and sea at the back

 sea in the front and row of cafes and restaurant (enjoy the sunset)

 beautiful sunset from the cafe

 clock tower

 mosque just behind the clock tower,KONAK

 Izmir public transport money charging machine

 shopping for marriages 

 entrance of Bazaar

 Garden area near the mosque in bazaar

 Very strong coffee (one end of the shopping bazaar)

Old Greek Building with a Ottoman style Balcony

days and weeks are not enough to enjoy the city you need to settle there :)

Antalya-Afyon busstop -Kocatepe University

How to reach city Afyon-karahisar

There is no working airport in city Afyon but to a near by city Kutahaya. The flights to Kutahaya are few in a week and mostly arrives at the airport at late times like 01:00 in the early morning.

The suitable way for coming to Afyon can be by bus from the neighboring cities.

Istanbul go to Otogar(bus stop) , you can reach to bus stop by taking the Metro from the airport and jump out at the otogar (its 10 stops from Airport).Take any bus from bus station to city Afyon (takes nearly 9 hours) cost nearly 50lira

From İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport to Afyonkarahisar: After your plane lands to the airport, get on public bus (204-express otobüsü) to the main bus station. Or you can wait for airport shuttle (HAVAŞ) to go to the Bus Station. At the bus station, you can find ANADOLU, KAMİL KOÇ, NİLÜFER, PAMUKKALE bus companies to come Afyonkarahisar. It takes 5 hours and costs about 35 Turkish lira 

From Ankara Esenboğa Airport to Afyonkarahisar: After your plane lands, get on airport shuttle called as HAVAŞ or public bus to go the Bus Station (AŞTİ). At the bus station, find the ANADOLU, KAMİL KOÇ, NİLÜFER, PAMUKKALE bus companies to come Afyon. It takes 3.15 hours and costs about 30 Turkish lira.

Antalya is more tourist place so you can take flight directly to Antalya adn then go out and start walking toward the domestic arrival (it takes nearly 10 min walk) There you will find the bus stop for public bus 600 which goes to the bus station and cost nearly 4 Liras (apy to driver) or more faster way is to take the HAVAS bus which run nearly 30 min after each landing.(it cost 10 Lira) and you can reach Bus station within 20 min. The Havas drops you on the road near the Otogar(bus station) you need to walk 5 min more and you can see the station in front of you. 

Kamil Koc has frequent buses to Afyon and ticket cost 35Lira.

After Reaching Afyon Bus station

Its a newly built nice bus station, The restaurants are nice and  you can find buses to almost all parts of the city. There is a free service for the ticket holders. The service van can be taken to city center (Carsi  or Yesil Yol) or the Kocatepe University (Ahmet Necdet Sezer=A.N.S) or just take a taxi which cost around 15 Lira to the Kocatepe University.

Things to Do in Afyon

Its small city and very different from other Turkish cities. The city is developing and you will find  a lot of construction around. The city is not use to tourist so they are very help full :)

The city is famous for marble , meat and egg industry.

As a tourist you can enjoy the Thermal hotels, Afyon castle, local bazaar and mosques (ULU CAMI)

The city can be easily seen in 1 or 2 days and can be stop in between travelling.

The city has big shopping mall names AFIUM and has a lot of shops and restaurants.

Find below some photos on the way to the castle. Take water with you.

The way to the castle.

half way up

Inside the Ulu Cami, the mosque was built in 1272

The city is also famous for Turkish delight (LOKUM) and poppy seed sweets (Hashish Helva) or Kaymak ( A thick fat extract from the milk)

Overall the city is good to visit for 1 or 2 days.

Transit at Istanbul airport-International to domestic terminal

If you are travelling to any city of Turkey from any other country and you have to connect to another city in Turkey( domestic). Then this information may guide you how to transit between international terminal 1 and the domestic terminal D.

Connection

If you are planning to get a domestic flight then keep your transit time at least 90 min. The immigration at Istanbul airport ATY is always crowded and you can easily see 500-600 people standing in ques.

you can find some intersting information about IST airport at this website http://www.ataturkairport.com/en-EN/Pages/Main.aspx

Luggage Tag

All the boarding passes are mostly given at the start of the journey(ORIGIN) and see the tag of the bag ,which shows that either your luggage will go directly to the final destination or you have to take it from Istanbul and then re book again. e.g if you go to Antalya from Prague and your connection is in Istanbul then the boarding passes are given for both flights (PRG-IST and IST-AYT) and the luggage is tagged to the Antalya airport. Encase they dont give you the second flight boarding pass still your luggage will go to the final destination and you can take your boarding pass from the transfer desk at the IST airport. The list of airport in Turkey with custom control are listed below

 ESB Ankara Airport Esenboga

ASR Kaisery Airport Kaisery

BJV Bodrum Airport Milas

DLM Mu la Dalaman Airport

ADB Izmir Airport Adnam Menderes

AYT Antalya Airport Antalya

Imigration at Istanbul or final destination

All international airports of Turkey has the custom control and immigration police, if you are arriving firstly to  Istanbul then you need to get your passport stamped at the IST airport.

As you enter the terminal a person would be standing and shouting name of cities; that means the flight to these cities are with in 45 min and they will try to take you directly to next flight and ease the process of immigration. 

Tip for quick transit

1- Check in  your seat at the front rows, you will come out of plan early and will save nearly 20 min

2- walk fast . every 5 minutes the flight lands at IST, so few fast step will make the difference.

3- Open page of your visa ,keep your accommodation paper in hand at the immigration counter.

After immigration to the domestic terminal

After immigration  there are belts for the luggage ,if your luggage was already checked in for the final destination then just leave for directly towards the exit. its near to belt 3 and after immigration its slightly to the left near the duty free shop .

Now you are out of the international duty free region , turn left for the domestic terminal, keep walking straight and then you will find escalators going straight but little inclined. Turn right (that's the only option you would get ) and then straight to the domestic terminal , see your gate on the screen and again go through the final checking before the gates. Find below some images of the IST airport after immigration till domestic terminal.

 Photo after immigration

 Belts on your left and right, exit on the front

exit in front and custom people sitting at the left side

 exit 1

 Turn lefr

 walk straight and AVEA mobile shop is visible

 entrance to the domestic terminal escalators 

 escalators going straight then take right

here you reach to the domestic terminal and by not taking the second exit you save time and also you don't have to do the luggage check in for entering the airport premises ( you can see the counters on the right of the picture which you skipped )

>>>>If you want to go to center of Istanbul  then go straight from international arrival exit to one more exit and take taxi or Havas bus or just turn right without exiting and you will see the Metro sign ;which is 2 floor down.

HAVE A SAFE JOURNEY  :)