Totally Türkiye - Destination Special with Trip.com

0:00Today's episode is brought to you in partnership with Trip.com.

0:09Hello and welcome to the Travel Diaries podcast. I'm your host Holly Rubinstein and today's episode is a very special one. We're heading to a country that sits at the crossroads of continents, cultures and centuries. Turkey or Turkiya as it's now officially known. From the buzz of Istanbul to the stillness of the Aegean coast, ancient ruins to hidden coves, this is a country of extraordinary contrast. And guiding us along the way, we'll be hearing from some very well-known voices from past episodes of the podcast, each sharing their own memories of Turkey and the places that have stayed with them.

0:51Joining me throughout is travel writer and Turkey expert, Annabelle Thorpe, who will help bring each of these destinations to life, where to go, what not to miss, and those hidden gems you won't find in a guidebook. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Trip.com. Now, if you're anything like me, and you tend to plan quite layered multi-stop itineraries, it's a really useful platform to have to hand. I'm someone who'll sit quite happily spending hours stitching an itinerary together, different cities, different regions. And what I really like is being able to look at everything in one place.

1:26With Trip.com, you can search and book flights, hotels, trains, car hire, experiences all in one place, which is ideal for a destination as vast and varied as Turkey. And it's all supported by 24-7 customer service, which gives you that extra reassurance once you're there. Now we're going to start in Istanbul, Turkey's cultural heartbeat, of course, a city that quite literally straddles two continents, Europe and Asia, divided by the Bosphorus. It's where Byzantine churches sit alongside Ottoman mosques, where the call to prayer echoes across the skyline, and where every street seems to carry layers of history.

2:06Here's TV's Simon Reeve on the first place he fell in love with.

2:19I think this has to be Istanbul. It's a city I've been to several times and the first time was quite the revelation, but it's just grown on me more and more as I've been there. it's it's all the cliches it's the bridge between east and west between now and the past and it's so much more it's this it's this melting pot of culture and people in such an obvious way and in such a secret hidden way as well and i think i really um fell in love with the city and it you know i'm a very uh emotional sort of type anyway but even just thinking about it now i can project myself back into the moment when I really fell in love with it and I feel that that power that powerful emotion with me within me even now ridiculous as it sounds I was in Hagia Sophia which of course was extraordinary place of worship for for more than a thousand years and is my favorite building on planet earth and is is such an incredible piece of architecture that feels as though it was built or placed there by another alien civilization because we would struggle to create that work of art now, such an extraordinary, majestic building that it is.

3:40And I was in Hagia Sophia, and up on the upper balcony there, there's just some graffiti carved into the stone on one of the balustrades. And it says, very simply translated, half guard was here and half guard was a viking and half guard stood there was it in the 7th century i think in some almost impossible ancient time and he stood there as a viking who had traveled down from from scandinavia down the rivers on their extraordinary boats and he'd come to to Istanbul and Constantinople as it was. And he had marveled at that incredible sight. And his response was, oh, so bloody human, was to put his own little mark on it.

4:32Half God was here. I love that. And if you haven't got a place that transcends time and place, there are a few cities and moments like that for me where you just feel projected back in time, but you feel that instant connection with place and a distant human ancestor of some sort on that very human desire, which, of course, I haven't done myself. But I can understand why people outrageously take a selfie. But, of course, we should string them up for doing it. It's a shame that you couldn't kind of carve in Simon was here. Or did you secretly? I secretly didn't. I said selfie then. I meant a Sharpie.

5:13I'm not one for stringing up people for taking a selfie, honestly. but marking their own name on the pyramids or in Hagia Sophia with a Sharpie, I think, no, we can't be doing that now, not seven plus billion of us.

5:34So that idea of physically crossing continents, there aren't many places in the world where you can feel that shift so viscerally. Annabelle, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me, first of all. Delighted to be here. Oh, it's really great to have you. And really, what is it about Istanbul that creates that intangible feeling? I think Istanbul is an extraordinary city. And what I always feel about it, it's a cliche in a way to say a city is a collection of villages but Istanbul really is and you have places that are so different you know you've got like Kadakoy on the Asian side which is so foodie and full of markets then you've got Eminolu and Bayolu on the European side which is really the historic peninsula which is packed full of all the main sites and then you have these other neighborhoods that are a bit like a sort of Hampstead or somewhere like that and they all come together and what that means is even though it's a massive city because I think Istanbul is a mega city I think it's got about 80 million people or something it still feels personal it still feels really you know you get a sense of of everyday life going on and it's not difficult to drill down into that and I think that's what makes it such an extraordinary place it is a metropolis it's massive but it feels quite intimate and personal at the same time so how would you then decide which neighborhood to to stay in?

7:01Is there a particularly popular one for tourists or first-time visitors? I think a lot of people stay in Beoglu, which is very central. And I think if you are a first-time visitor to Istanbul, you've got to do the big hitters. You've got to do, as Simon talks about, the Ayasofya, which was an architectural marvel when it was first built, I think, you know, a thousand years ago and remains so now. You've got the Topkapi Palace, you've got the Blue Mosque, which is has thousands of that very vivid isnic tiling and that beautiful blue I think you want to you want to tick all those off but then I think if you go far enough sort of up the Bosphorus it almost starts to feel like Lake Como and you've got all these lovely sort of places that are kind of like villages Bebek is is one of my favorites that was a fishing village now it's good coffee shops and boutiques and and whatever so I think you know I think it takes a bit of research because it is a really big city and I would always say to anybody you must do both sides so because taking that ferry across the Bosphorus is an iconic thing to do just on its own just for the views so and it's so simple they run all the time it couldn't be any more straightforward so I think you know you want to just maybe you know do the historic peninsula do the big sites and then maybe pick two or three other neighborhoods and go and go and immerse yourself in those.

8:19And would you actually suggest staying on both sides or do you think you could do it all being based in one place I think you absolutely can and I mean I think for a first-time visitor I would stay on the European side because like I say you are going to want to do the big hitters and that does make it easier but I think if you you know I love Katakoy because because Turkish food for me is the best cuisine in the world and you have great restaurants I mean you have great restaurants everywhere but for me there is just something a little less it feels a little less touristy on the on the Asian side so for a second visit um you know and there are little quarters like Moda which is um a neighborhood of Kadakoy that's all kind of up the up the up the coastline so you know it has all these has a lovely pier um and sort of cafes all by the waterfront so I think for a second visit perhaps consider the Asian side but but I think most realistically most visitors would want to be on the um on the European side for a first trip that's brilliant advice and I would say it's also really amazing to have such different feels within one city I mean we're lucky here in London that there's such diversity within our city and similarly you can feel that in Istanbul absolutely I mean one of my one of my favorite experiences that I've had recently there's a neighborhood called Chukajuma which is really really which is like a tangle of little lanes and whatever and it's and it's well known for its antique and vintage shops and I was recommended this particular one it was on three stories and uh I sort of went with some friends and we ended up being met by the owner who was very tall and quite dramatically bearded and sitting having black cherry tea out of these little tulip shaped glasses I felt like it was in sort of a Turkish Russian novel it was it was and it was so different from being you know out in in kind of Istaklal Street, which is like the main boulevard or any of those much bigger, more popular spaces, to be in this little tangle of lanes surrounded by all these antiques and artifacts.

10:19And, you know, that's the thing. You can pack in so many different experiences. And I think, you know, you don't have to be there for long. So two or three nights, you can really pack it in. Oh, brilliant. That's a fantastic hidden gem. Any other favourite hidden gems in Istanbul? Well, I also love Tarabia, which, as I say, is a neighbourhood right up, you know, and it really reminds me of driving around Como. So, you know, you drive right along the banks of the Bosphorus. And there's a restaurant up there called Kiyi, K-I-Y-I, and they have been serving almost pretty much the same menu. It's all fresh fish since the 1960s.

10:56And it's white linen tablecloths. You know, the staff are just charming and it's full of Turkish families, you know, having birthdays or special Sunday lunches. So that's my go-to for a treat. And then just when you think you understand Turkey, it completely shifts. You head inland and you find yourself in Cappadocia, a landscape that feels almost otherworldly. These extraordinary rock formations, cave hotels carved into the earth and at sunrise, hundreds of hot air balloons drifting silently across the sky. It's one of those destinations that we're all so familiar with but is it a destination that lives up to the hype in your opinion?

11:36I think it does I mean I think there you know there are areas that are more busy than others but I don't think there's anywhere quite like it and I think just because of the the volcanic rock being so soft what has been done to it both by nature and by centuries of human society is just mind-blowing so Derinkuyu is a city it's an underground city you can visit it it goes 85 meters deep and it could house up to 20 000 people unbelievable absolutely mind-boggling um and then there's there's another one i think called uh kymakli i think which is which is smaller which people still use today and they use it for like grain stores and animal stores and but these these cities you know that is extraordinary and then you have all the cave dwellings and and as you said these amazing formations and and i think what's been interesting with Cappadocia is to see it mature as a destination so it used to be you know you would just go there and look at it and now it's like a big mountain biking destination it's got fantastic off-road trails people go there to walk you know everybody knows about the hot air balloons but there's all these other ways to enjoy it and now it's in its first time it's in the Michelin guide this year yes so it's you know it's a foodie destination as well so I think you know yes it it has these incredible scenic landscapes and backdrops.

12:59But as always with tourism, it has developed to offer beautiful hotels as well. You know, you can stay in converted cave houses that have, you know, five star luxury if that's what you want. So I think it's much more of a sort of rounded place to go now than it was probably even 10 years ago. Do you have a favourite place to stay there? So hotel wise, I think Argos in Cappadocia is lovely. is a particular favorite and also I think it has two Michelin restaurants now so and it's one of these ones that's built into the cave but I mean I think anywhere is I would happily go anywhere there and just have my head on a swivel because it just is remarkable it's completely remarkable so just to situate it as a destination so it's only it's only 90 minutes from Istanbul so it's a very easy flight it's sort of eastern central anatolia um so again completely different landscapes so you can fly in and out of istanbul very easily so it's a good jewel you could do a multi-center as a trip you can yeah and i think a lot of people do do istanbul and cappadocia and i think if you're only think you're only going to go to turkey once then i think that absolutely makes sense because they're the two really extraordinary places but if it's somewhere you want to explore more I think they're they're both so extraordinary that I think sometimes if you pack too much into a trip it all starts to blur so I would put Cappadocia I think perhaps with and then fly on down to Antalya which is which then opens up the coast so you have this inland you know very extraordinary scenic trip and then and then I think a few days by the coast that would be my combination I think oh that sounds lovely well we'll come on to Antalya in a second but just wanted to ask a couple more questions about Cappadocia I mean it's really interesting what you say like what what everybody knows from the pictures is what's above ground uh floating in the sky typically uh people go there for the hot air balloons um and have their photos taken often but what's beneath the ground or underneath the rock dwellings is even more fascinating.

15:06It's the human ingenuity, I think. And as I say, you know, and there's something like there's a thousand rock churches as well. And some of them have these beautiful murals dating back to the Byzantine era. And again, it's, you know, it's these civilizations from hundreds and hundreds of years ago, the ingenuity that it took to create these underground cities, to create these cave dwellings and the churches. And I think there was something, I don't know, sort of mesmerizing about that legacy that is still there for us to see today. That's incredible. And what about the hot air balloons? Have you done that experience before?

15:42I haven't. I have to say I'm a little bit windy about hot air balloons, but I know people who have had, who have, and I think if you go up at sunrise, you know, I've had friends of mine say it's just the most, one of the most extraordinary things they've ever done. Because sunrise and sunset, because a couple of the valleys, there's a valley called the Red Valley, particularly because at sunset there's a lot of deep canyons and sandstone ridges and they just glow this beautiful kind of red orange color um and to have that perspective from you know from being up in a balloon it's it's it's that bird's eye perspective isn't it i think which which is is just unique so i would say i haven't done it myself but i it comes highly recommended by people i know who have So you mentioned then how it could combine really beautifully with a trip to Antalya.

16:31Can you help kind of set the scene for Antalya and what it's like? Yeah, I think people get a bit confused because Antalya is both a big city and a region. So if you say you're flying into Antalya, you might be going to Alanya or you might be going to Cache or you might be going to Giralea, but you're flying into Antalya Airport. so but Antalya itself and it's the it's the third biggest in Europe in terms of visitor numbers Antalya after after London and I can't remember where else but it is massive destination and Antalya itself is is is a big destination even though it's a city um and it and it's great it's it's it's kind of quite mainstream tourism and it has three parts to it so it's got the old town in the middle which is charming there's called the Caliche it's set around a Roman Harbour and it's absolutely beautiful and there are some lovely little boutique hotels that are in those in those streets and then on the one side you've got a long stretch of beach and and some hotels and that's quite a residential side and then on the eastern side you've got Lara and Lara is basically a massive long stretch of huge all-inclusives and big resorts and family friendly water park resorts and that kind of thing and that's where all those numbers come because there is a massive amount of those big resorts so and that's you know a side of Turkey that's really developed in the time that I've been visiting and it's become quite well known as for its all-inclusive resorts and they and they offer great value so that's a lot of what Antalya itself is about as a city and it's you know it is great if you're a family because you can stay in your inclusive and then you can also go into the old town but I would say the thing to be aware of if you go to Antalya is the distances so if you stay in Lara it can take you 40 minutes to get into the Caliche into the old town it's a big city it's a big city so you know for me it's it's not somewhere that I would probably stay for more than a day or two I'd stay in the old town and have dinner on the harbour but I I use it as a gateway to then go to other places along the coast that I'm that I you know want to have a holiday in there's a there's a region of Antalya called Belet which is about 20-25 minutes from Antalya airport and that is it's quite golf focused but they are some very elegant um all-inclusives there that that are it's a much quieter place um and they don't have the kind of massive water parks and and all that sort of thing they are much more you know some are family focused some are adults only but but if you want to kind of fly and flop that's got some that's got some style about it then I then I think Belek is a really good place to choose.

19:18Belek okay that's good to know if if somebody is looking for that kind of easy all inclusive experience by the coast I imagine there are some that are like behemoths that are just a overwhelming but are there any particular resorts that is there one in particular that maybe actually you think actually this is really nice there are some lovely ones and I think what's happening in Turkey that's quite interesting is that it's the bar is moving upwards in terms of the you know there are now places that talk about Maldivian style barefoot luxury and my goodness they deliver on that they really do really but in I mean in terms of all inclusives for a family I think the hillside beach club in fetiae is really difficult to beat it's it's you know it's it's not new but it's set across three beautiful pine back bays so you've got separate beaches there's always some space it's got that great program of activities the food is extraordinary i mean if you talk to you know people who've got families who go to turkey most of them will have heard of the hillside beach club because it's just a winner they know what they're doing and the setting is absolutely beautiful.

20:31So this episode is brought to you by trip.com. I was actually thinking about this while I was putting the episode together because Turkey is one of those destinations that can be whatever you want it to be. It might be a really easy single stop trip a few days in Istanbul, completely immersed in the history and the food and that incredible atmosphere. Or it could be a classic beach escape on the coast where you just switch off and stay in one place. But it's also a country that really lends itself to something more layered. Maybe combining Istanbul with Cappadocia, maybe finishing by the sea, where every stop feels completely different from the last.

21:08And whether you're planning something simple or something more complex like that, what I really love about Trip.com is that it makes it much easier to bring all those different elements together. So you can book your flights, hotels, trains, car hire, experiences, even cruises, all in one go, which just makes the whole process feel much easier to piece together. And I have to say, I've been really impressed by Trip Genie, which is their AI travel assistant. I mean, as you guys know, I'm someone who really enjoys the planning stage. But even then, there's always that moment at the beginning where you're thinking, how do I actually like shape this itinerary?

21:45And Trip Genie is really useful for that. You can use it to map out ideas, to explore different routes and start to build an itinerary in a way that feels intuitive and easy to follow. And then once you're actually away, you've got that 24-7 customer support as well, which gives you that extra layer of reassurance throughout the whole experience. What's especially helpful with a destination like Turkey is being able to look at all the different options side by side, shape something that feels right for the kind of break you want, whether that's a few days in one city or something more wide ranging.

22:15You can head to trip.com to find out more. Now let's head to the Southwest and the Aegean Sea where pine covered mountains meet impossibly clear water. Our first stop is Kalkan, brought to life by Telegraph hotel critic Fiona Duncan. With this little hidden gem, it just came home to me. It embodies for me the truth that true luxury is simplicity. That's what I think. Yes. And I was in Kalkan in Turkey. Yeah. It's a lovely hotel called Villa Mahal with Robin and Judy Hudson and some other people. And they've been going to Villa Mahal and Kalkan for many, many years. And we were all there. And they said one day, they said, we want to take you to our favourite restaurant.

23:05And maybe if I just read you what I wrote. Yeah, that'd be lovely. Because it's easier to do that. So it's got no name, this restaurant. The locals who are in the know just call it the Fish Shack. so accessible only by boat it was a wooden shack perched above the rocky shore the word restaurant was crudely painted in red across a torn sheet that flapped in the breeze chickens pecked on the ground the coffee was boiled on an open fire and we all helped the elderly owner bringing out bring out dishes of tomato salad aubergine cucumber and yogurt bunches of rocket and spring onion chicken kebabs and grilled fish from the primitive kitchen sitting on comfy cushions at a low table tucking in and reveling in the views and the glorious weather we knew we were somewhere special for anyone who believes that true luxury is simple and natural the fish shack is surely the epitome for robin hudson it's also the source of inspiration where do you think i got the idea for the pigs he told me so that simplicity yeah um it it can be inspirational and inform and I get more pleasure out of that than I've been in many wonderful hotels and had many amazing dinners and fancy this and fancy that and spa treatments but honestly I was happiest there I was just in heaven at that place

24:33so that was a cal can fiona talking so beautifully about her favorite spots there is that a place that you love too annabelle in all of turkey cal can has my heart because it was my first the place that i went to first in oh gosh 31 years ago i went with my sister we loved it so much we deliberately missed our plane home we stayed for a second week and we went back for the summer and back then in 94 it was just a small greek fishing village and we got to know half the village and we were the crazy english sisters that came and stayed for the summer and over the over the next three decades it's kind of been like a relationship i've been in love with it i've fallen out of love with it i've kind of felt how how has this happened to you it's become something very different it's it's very big now there are hundreds and hundreds of villas but whatever it was that captured out us there is some alchemy there there's some magic when you talk to people in Kalkan it's a competitive sport how many years they've been coming back for people really love it people adore it and it's it's quite sophisticated you have all these rooftop bars and they're sort of playing jazz and you have kind of you know restaurants that offer really high quality food it's it's on this horseshoe shaped bay that has the most perfect sunsets it's quite an intense place and it's not the most authentically turkish i wouldn't say anymore but it is it's a one-off it's a it's an absolute one-off and i would i would always say to people you go to calcan you can't fail to have good time really how would you spend your perfect day in calcan well i always stay has a little house a little hotel right in the centre of the old town called the courtyard which is some um three converted uh old ottoman houses and i have uh breakfast on the terrace julia there makes a lovely breakfast and then what people tend to do in cow can because it does it has a public beach now they have created one but around the bay there are beach clubs and free boat taxis run every morning so i would head off to a beach club um have a sort of lazy afternoon i think and then the thing with cow can is is people dress up so there's a there's a cafe in the middle of town that's been there since i first went called the mercares and i always like to get a pitch there about half past five have a cold fs and you just and it's the main thoroughfare of people walking into the old town and so you just see everybody coming down from their hotels and they're all a bit glammed up coming out for the evening and you just have this sense of the town kind of everybody coming back and and getting ready for for a sort of night of great food and drinks and it's it's just it's lovely that's that's my that's the highlight of my my day is that's such a quintessential summer holiday feeling isn't it that getting ready absolutely absolutely and the heat of the dusk and everybody you know you know everybody's come back in their swimming costumes and all sandy or whatever and then they got into their you know their strappy evening frocks and they're coming out for a cold glass of wine um and that it's a very sociable place cow can and um yeah it's if you want to go somewhere where you can put on a sparkly flip-flop and a nice frock could not feel overdressed then cow can is a place to do it fantastic where would you fly into for cow can so you can fly into antalia and it is a spectacular drive um because you come through cash first which is its sister fishing village and the road between Cow Can and Cash is about 35 minutes and it just is like hewn into the hillside above the sea it's an absolutely stunning journey but Dalaman is closer Dalaman's about two hours.

28:18We continue now along the turquoise coast and one of the most quintessential experiences you can have setting sail on a traditional gulet. These beautiful wooden boats, with their sweeping decks and barefoot luxury feel, have become synonymous with this stretch of coastline. It's slow travel at its finest. And presenter Jamie Leng discovered exactly why. Here he is. We went on this amazing kind of wooden boat and we sailed around Turkey. And we were sailing around Turkey and different things. And we went with a couple of other families. and it was the first time that I had was a bit grown up always before I you know we went to Club Med or we went to Disneyland or we went to Turkey and our parents were kind of always there and looking after us and this one was the first time we could sleep we were able to sleep on the deck on this wicked sailing boat and we were allowed to go to the restaurants by ourselves and all these kind of things was a big group of us kids so it's the first time I grew up and I fell in love with one of the girls from the other family fell in love for that and so it was this amazing I remember crying at the end of the trip I really didn't want to go home because it was just it was the first time I'd felt sort of free and that sounds weird right but it was the first time I felt free and perhaps it was the ocean perhaps it was uh the place we are but it was the first time I feel like my parents said go on do your own thing and I fell in love with this person as well on that so Turkey sailing sailing around the sort of coast of there and all around Turkey that for me was just it was unbelievable and really sticks in my mind

29:57oh god that sounds like such a magical way to experience turkey those hidden coves the water just sounds absolutely beautiful if someone's listening to that annabelle and thinking like oh i just want to do exactly that like me where do you think they should begin well i think so i think the first thing to think about is do you want that to be your whole holiday so that you know a week or a four night or do you just want to do it for three days as part of a holiday and then there are all sorts of companies where you can just arrange that so there's gulet escapes there's blue voyage trips there's nautilus yachting and some of those you can book an entire boat but I think for a lot of people the easiest thing to do is to just book a cabin right there are some really lovely operators who offer gulet trips where you just book a cabin but it's not just about the sailing so it'll be you know there'll be walks by really knowledgeable guides and so you have these beautiful mornings and evenings and I and I genuinely think that that stretch of the coast is one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world because what nobody expects about Turkey is that it's so lush and it's so green so I took the ferry from Fethiye to Rhodes uh two three years ago and the change from the Turkish coastline which is backed by the massive Taurus mountains that are all pine forested and so green.

31:24And then to arrive in roads where everything is very arid and dry. I still don't understand how that, well, I think it's just the mountains, I think because they're so big, they, you know, but, but the difference in landscapes that's for me, that's what makes the Turkish coastline so beautiful is, is the backdrop to it is these huge, huge lush mountains. And where would be your kind of dream stops if you were on a boat to experience that coastline? I think I would set off from Fethiye which is again which is a kind of working city not as big as Antalya but it's but it's got a lovely feel it's a really authentic place and then you come up and you would stop off at Gojek which is surrounded by small islands and is really this area's sailing hub it's a sailing small town and that's really beautiful and then you go on past Dalyan which is where the rock tombs are and then you would come around into into Marmaris Bay and I'm not a fan of Marmaris it's a big resort it's very sort of mass market and developed but the scenery around there is extraordinary and there's a road if you come into Marmaris by road you come down off the mountains and as you come down it looks like you're coming into Rio.

32:39It's got that same sort of, you know, forested hills and city. And it's a really, really beautiful journey to do. And I think you just get, you know, you just take it at a different pace if you're on a boat. You just really get a chance to soak it up. And to see lots of stops on the way to kind of have a multi-centred trip. Yeah. And I think Turkey has long been a sailing destination. So, you know, there are little villages that, you know, that now probably have you know two or three boutique hotels but originally would have just had a couple of restaurants just for people just that people could sail to so i think you know pulling into these little bays which for all the turkey is you know does have these i say these mordovian luxury style resorts and loads of all-inclusives it's such a big country that there's still plenty of places that have that authentic small village charm that you can you can tap into which is you know for me that's that's that's the best that's magic can you reveal a couple of them for us what are your hidden gems well I think in terms of getting somewhere fairly easily the Bosborough Peninsula which kind of comes south away from Marmaris is is really still quite undiscovered and it's fringed with small villages that originally would have just been accessed by sailors I think and one is called Selimie and another one is called Orhanie and they are really slow paced and they're you know Selimie is a little bit more known by people but also Orhanie you could stay there and not hear it you know not hear another English voice and then further around the peninsula you've got a little very sleepy village called Bosbaran and that used to be where they built the gulets it was a gulet just boat building village and I think they still do and that has a handful of restaurants and you know maybe two or three little villas there's good walking trails as well, well-signed posted walking trails around the peninsula.

34:37So for me, I think, because that's access from Dalaman, so it's very easy to get to, if you want that very sleepy, authentic, charming Turkey, I think the Bosman Peninsula is a good place to find it. Next, we head along the coast to the Datsha Peninsula, one of the most untouched corners of Turkey's coastline. Here's Beverly Knight with her memories. Literally just got back from Turkey. Ah, welcome back. Thank you very much. I was at the Dacia Peninsula in a lovely hotel down there. It's like a big resort. It's funny because in my mind, And if you say Turkey to me, I think of Istanbul, people, busy, traffic, can't move, stunning architecture, you know, the Bosporus.

35:37And that's my abiding image. But I know that's not the whole story because Turkey is a huge country. The Dacia Peninsula, mountains and the Aegean Sea and greenery. I mean it's so green Really? So it's quite, it's lush It's a lush, green, mountainous area with water everywhere Obviously it's a peninsula Quiet and calm and peaceful and utterly beautiful Utterly beautiful It was spellbinding actually I loved every second of it Just loved it Spending your time in the water, like out on boats, like swimming how do you love to spend your time when you're away I was in that water every day at every opportunity I spent the entire time on the beach I am that person who if I'm going on holiday I need the beach and the water I need that access otherwise it doesn't feel like a proper holiday it almost feels like okay I'm probably gonna end up working any minute now you know someone's going to hand me a microphone and I'm going to work if I'm in like a city holiday for example yeah but when I'm at a beach and the water's there it's even more beautiful with the mountains around me that's when I know Bev you're on holiday you can relax you can let go that's so nice you've sold me on that

37:21oh so the dacha peninsula this is somewhere that is on my bucket list i have seen photos of it and it looks frankly like otherworldly like absolutely magnificent what's your impression of the dacha peninsula i think my first impression is it's quite a long way from anywhere so it's you you have to sort of go so where i was talking about the bosom peninsula if you go sort of past the back of that peninsula and on then you hit the dacha peninsula and it's like you know sometimes these peninsulas it looks like a sort of big crocodile the top of the big crocodile just like stretching out westwards um and i think because it is quite off the beaten track there's like you know the one main road that goes all the way down the peninsula to dacha at the bottom it it does feel quite different um and dacha itself is really interesting because you have even though the you know the whole coast is is is very well known by tourism you have these towns that kind of slip under the radar and dacha is one and koje is another which is between sort of next very close to dalian which is a very well-known resort and they feel very and they're really just turkish resorts you know they're just people where turkish families go on holiday dacha absolutely has that feeling it's you know it's not glitzy it's it's small hotels it's sort of set around a bay and restaurants have their tables on the beach um so it's really really authentic um and it has a real sense of place but i but i think if you you know you also have to be aware if you're in dacha you're not really going to see anywhere else because it's you know it's a good hour's drive back to the next place what it does have is is um the ancient carrion city of nidos which is one of the one of the most impressive ancient sites but again because it's so far from anywhere it's untouched and so that's that's a big stop on people doing kind of historical tours of Turkey they will go to Nidos so that's nearby but it's I mean it's you know it's a charming it's a charming town.

39:28And the hotel that Beverly's talking about here I think both of us think we might know which one it is. Yes I think it's the Demaras Bay just because I you know certainly you know as far as I'm aware there's there's nothing else on that peninsula that comes near it and it's it's a big resort but it's really chic and really stylish and the views are funnily enough the view certainly from my room was straight across to the Bosman Peninsula so it's almost like a lake because you've got the sea and then you've got land on the other side in terms of tranquility it's it's you know it's it's out on its own and there's beautiful beach bar down on the sands if you want to fly and flop because again if you're there you probably you might go but you probably won't go anywhere else because it's not in the center of things but if you're looking for a top end fly and flop then then it's hard to be I think really and you mentioned um that Turkey now has this Barefoot luxury offering.

40:30Where would you go to for that? Well, so, I mean, it's, you know, you've got to be prepared to break the budget. But I stayed at a place called Ahama, A-H-A-M-A, in October, and it had just opened, and it was blissful. So it's only about 15, 20 minutes from Dallaman Airport, and you have to go through a forest, a protected forest, to get to it so you're dropped off and then they pick you up by golf cart and they take you through um if it was going to be the next series of the white lotus it would be perfect so you arrive it's this beautiful beautiful soft sand sort of bay back by the forest um and and everything is is just quietly perfect so that you know there's i think 49 architect designed um sort of they're not fillers they're they're sort of glass fronted rooms and everything's kind of cream linen and taupe and organic and sustainable and there's a yoga platform you know up above the sea and there's a sound healing therapy sort of building in the forest and it's their ex-man's are in oriental they absolutely know what they're doing it's blissful but it is you know you've got oligarchs marching up and down on the sand on their mobile phones that's your price bracket but if you if that is a price bracket that you can manage I thought it was flawless I thought it was absolutely flawless great tip fun to add to the bucket list then or to save up for yeah how about um a perfect family destination obviously we talked about hillside beach club but beyond like the all-inclusives is there a destination that you think really is lovely to visit with children I'm a great fan of cash I think cash is underrated so when I first went to Turkey, Kalkan and Kash were kind of siblings.

42:23They were two Greek fishing villages, picturesque. Kash was a bit bigger. And then the Kalkan Beledir, which is the town hall, they decided to do all the development you could possibly imagine. And Kash said no. So Kash has some lovely hotels, but they're on the peninsula about five or six minutes drive out of the town. But it's a great place for activities. You've got walking, you've got mountain biking, you can go to the bay of kakova which is about half an hour away and kayak across the sunken city you can take the ferry to maize which is a greek island literally sort of an hour away from cash and cash feels authentic so it has a great friday market it's got lovely restaurants it's still got that greek fishing village feel it's got affordable hotels and i think it's you know it's just it's a good size and for a family it offers lots of activities um and boat trips and diving um and it's just it's just fun it's it's unpretentious and it's and it's authentic and you know i i think i you know i think it's a my sister took her boys there not so long ago and you know had a great time it's very similar to kowkow so it's so you know at its heart there is a there is a small old town with the cobbled streets and the old you know ottoman houses and then it's sort of spread out along a bay and quite a lot of the restaurants that are on the bay have have sort of gardens that step down to the sea so you can go and have lunch and then afterwards you can just go and line a sun lounger and and go and swim and and so again it doesn't have conventional beaches in that way i guess but it but it you know there is never any shortage of ways to get in the sea and the other place that i think is is really interesting is that it's quite simple there's a bit further on between cash and antaglia it's called chirale and it's it's quite a simple beach resort and there are sort of tree houses and but it's famous for the chimera if you if you walk up out of town there's these fishes in the rock and and flames come out of them because of the hot air and gases that are within the rocks yeah so it's um and that's you know that's great to do with kids because of the you know it's like something out of a film all these little bits coming out so finally then I always love to ask my guests what's at the top of their bucket list is there somewhere on your bucket list in Turkey that you haven't been that you'd love to go to or somewhere that you're dying to return to and you know where I'm keen to get to and obviously I will be doing it you know in the immediate future is eastern Turkey which is packed full of extraordinary sites ruined cities thousands of years old chapels Gaziantep which is a city that's supposed to be you know the gastronomical hub of turkey yeah you've got the the big the big stone heads on mount nemru and what's interesting is that tour operators starting to go there i'm i'm really noticing i mean obviously things have slowed down a bit with current events but i know three or four small group operators who are taking tours to eastern turkey now which for so long has not you know been been a side of the country that people know so i'm fascinated to get out there and discover, you know, and just discover a different part of a country that I think I know.

45:37We all do this. That means we think we know a country really well. And then there's great parts of it you've never been to. So that Eastern Turkey region, that's my wish list, top of my wish list. Brilliant. Thank you so much, Annabelle. That was absolutely fascinating. Thank you for all of your insight and for painting such a beautiful picture of Turkey. It's been an absolute pleasure. I could talk about it all day.

46:03Oh, a massive thank you to Annabelle for sharing such expertise and really helping to bring so many different sides of Turkey to life today. If you'd like to dive deeper into Annabelle's work, her book, The Great Escape, Britain's 400-year love affair with holidays, is out on May 7th. It is a brilliant read, an amazing look at how our relationship with travel has evolved over the centuries. What I love about Turkey, reflecting on it all, is just how many different journeys it offers within one country. From that energy of Istanbul to the otherworldly landscape of Cappadocia, the stillness of the Aegean and the hidden coves of the turquoise coast.

46:44It's just a place that feels endlessly varied and constantly surprising. And if you're feeling inspired to plan your own itinerary, you can of course explore and book everything you need with Trip.com. from flights and hotels to trains and transfers, which is especially helpful if you're piecing together something multi-stop. I'll of course be back next week with a brand new guest. So don't forget to hit follow or subscribe on your podcast app so that you don't miss an episode. To find out who's joining me next week, come and follow me on Instagram. I'm at Holly Rubenstein. You'll also find me on TikTok at Holly Rubenstein as well.

47:18In the meantime, have a fabulous week and safe travels.

47:39If today's episode has inspired you to start thinking about your own itinerary to Turkey, it really is such a wonderful destination for this time of year. Whether you're looking for a city break, a coastal escape or something a little longer and more immersive, trip.com can be a useful place to look at flights, hotels, trains, and other travel essentials all in one place with 24-7 customer service there for added reassurance. You can explore more at Trip.com or by downloading the Trip.com app. And if you're still shaping your itinerary, Trip Genie, Trip.com's AI travel planning tool, can help you with ideas and inspiration.

48:19hey it's page from giggly squad you already know once i'm in my jammies i'm in my final form and lately my last step before fully clocking out is the cover girl jammy lip sleeping mask i just twist apply with the mess-free applicator and let the dreamy lavender scent literally tuck me in by morning my lips feel smooth revitalized and baby soft while i'm doing absolutely nothing iconic behavior so shop cover girl jammy lip sleeping mask at your nearest retailer now only from easy breezy beautiful cover girl