My Solo Trip to Turkey
“Guys I really think I will do a solo trip to Istanbul for Christmas at this rate”. I sent that message to our group chat in late October 2021. My family and I had initially planned to all go on a family holiday, but due to circumstances beyond our control, this could not be executed.
I was determined to not spend Christmas and New Years in London and I was also determined to not fly back home (Nigeria) for Christmas. Being a woman with a Nigerian passport and with the current restrictions and limitations brought about by the pandemic, I had very limited holiday options. For the past two years, Turkey has always been on my mind and after reading up on the restrictions for both London and Turkey, Turkey seemed like a viable option. I decided December 2021 will be the time to finally explore this dream of visiting Turkey.
Early November, I booked my ticket and started planning for my trip. I obtained my e-visa, which took about five minutes. I was genuinely shocked at how easy it was to obtain. After this, I started my research on what Turkey has to offer. I watched a lot of YouTube videos on tourist attractions, discussed with my Turkish colleague and read different travellers write ups on their trips to Turkey. I also specifically researched “solo trips to Turkey”, to be sure it was safe to go alone. The findings from my research made me really excited about this journey.
Turkey has a lot of tourist attractions in different cities; Istanbul, Antalya, Ankara, Pamukkale, Cappadocia (I think the list goes on, but these are the most popular cities for tourists). After much research, I decided I will visit Istanbul for the Christmas period and Cappadocia for the New Year’s period. I prepared my itinerary and made my hotel and restaurant reservations.
On 24 December 2021, I set out on my first solo trip. I remember arriving at the hotel in Istanbul and feeling both nervous and excited. A part of me thought, “omg what have I done, how am I supposed to spend 10 days by myself, I’ll be so lonely, I miss my family and friends.” But after calling my mom for a bit and hearing the excitement in her voice for my new adventure, I became calm. I think her excitement rubbed off on me.
Christmas Day was a bit quiet; I rested during the day and spoke to my family. At night, I got the strength to get up. I got dressed, looked cute and headed to the Sunset Grill Restaurant. I had amazing lamb chops, fries and two nice cocktails. I met and had various conversations with different tourists and a bartender who was very committed to making sure I was alright. I got a lot of free drinks too lol. Three hours later, I decided to head back home. As a 30+ woman, I do not overstay my visit at restaurants and know when to head back home.
Boxing Day was a full-on tourism day. I did a full tour of major attractions in Istanbul, where I met two middle-aged Americans, who have inspired me from our conversations to travel more and just enjoy life. Our tour guide was very informative, kind, and insightful. I learnt a lot about Turkey; how it was initially conquered by Constantine, and then Sultan Mehmet II, which has majorly influenced both the Christian and Muslim history in Turkey. I visited the Haggai Sofia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and other major tourist attractions.
On the 27th, I visited and discovered the Asian side of Turkey. I used the subway for transportation. The Asian side was more modern and a bit less crowded than the European side. It is also very hilly. I went to different art shops and got a lot of artsy gifts for myself and friends.
My next day was very chilled, I visited the faith shopping centre and got some pieces from Mango and stopped at a Chinese Restaurant to eat. I will confess now, I do not like Turkish food, it’s just not my cup of tea. I had been craving something spicy for days now and Chinese seemed like the closest option to satisfying this craving. Anyways I was happy after having some Chinese food, mostly because it was just what I needed, and the food was cheap and a lot.
On the 28th I went on the Bosphorus Sunset Cruise which was nice and serene. It is a 2-hour 30 minutes sunset cruise on a yacht. This was sort of a tour of Istanbul on a yacht. We went down the Bosphorus waterway that marks the border between Asian Turkey and European Turkey.
We saw riverside landmarks like the Dalmabache Palace, the Ortakoy Mosque and the Rumeli Fortress. It was raining during my cruise and I am sure this affected how much I enjoyed the experience. I am certain, I would have had more fun if it was a sunny day. I also met a young couple from Libya who work in London and are both doctors. We had interesting conversations about being an immigrant in London and how stressful the year had been.
The next day, I set off to the magical Cappadocia, which means “the land of beautiful horses, sounds magical right lol”. Anyways Cappadocia is a very beautiful city with a lot of history and culture. It is very much a rural town, which has now been turned into a tourist centre. It is also a cave city as most of the restaurants and hotels are actual caves.
I stayed in on the 30th because I was tired from getting the red eye to Cappadocia. In the evening, I headed to Top Cave Restaurant for dinner and had amazing lambchops and rice (“yes, I love lamb chops, free me!”). I met the kindest gay couple from Greece and had wine and conversations about European cities and covid. The chef was also very friendly. He had spent most of his adult life in Cape Town as a Chef. He told us how he moved to Cape Town because of his wife (so cute). Anyways we really bonded over conversations about Cape Town as I love to talk about my trip to Cape Town.
On the 31st, I started my day very early (7:00am), with the infamous Flamethrower Balloon Ride. This ride was magical! I keep relieving the experience. Everyone must experience this ride; it is a once in a lifetime experience. It was so exhilarating. For a moment, all my worries and fears vanished, I was just living. It lasted for about an hour. In my opinion it was too short. We ended the ride with champagne and a brief history on the first ride which was conducted by two brothers from France, who celebrated the first successful ride with Champagne. This is where the Champagne tradition at the end of the ride originated from.
I spent the rest of the day on a tour of the city where we discovered and learned about the underground cities, the different palaces in Cappadocia, the love valley, and the Kume and Groeme mountains.
New Year’s Day consisted of a beautiful camel ride in the sunset and Turkish Night. The Turkish Night consisted of various Turkish dances and music with unlimited food and drinks.
On the 2nd of January, I headed back to Istanbul and then back to London on the 3rd of January. In all, I had a great experience in Turkey. Turkish people are nice, food and accommodation are affordable and there are numerous things and adventures to do and discover. I might just go again, maybe during summer. Some things are just better experienced in the sun with warmer weather.
