Silk Road: Uzbekistan - News and Events

It was while crawling through the hobbit-sized passages of Cappadocia's cave churches that my husband and I realized why we chose this faraway land not known for romantic getaways as our honeymoon destination.

While many newlyweds choose to relax on the sandy Caribbean beaches, we knew that wasn't for us. A few years ago we stayed at an all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic, where most hotel doors were covered with signs warning of "honeymooners" sleeping inside. We didn't want that. We wanted an adventure.

Our choice of destination still came as a surprise to many friends and family members. We conducted a poll among our wedding guests to see where they thought we should go. Turkey came in dead last, right after Russia.

But we weren't worried — Turkey held the promise of a once-in-a-lifetime vacation.

So, off we went on a three-week trip around western Turkey, starting from the chic and surprisingly cosmopolitan Istanbul.

The capital turned out to be the best point of entry not only due to its major airport, but also because of its European feel.

Istanbul boasts one of the world's most spectacular locations — the Bosporus, which divides Europe and Asia. There are plenty of vista points to enjoy the stunning beauty of the ancient city; we found our favorite in a hillside teahouse in Gulhane Park near the Topkapi Palace, the main residence of

the sultans until the mid-1800s. Gazing at the city sprawled on the banks of the strait, we spent a couple of hours drinking tea, served according to local tradition in small glasses.

Although we stayed in the old town across from Hagia Sophia, the domed church-turned-mosque-turned-museum, we enjoyed venturing out to other parts of the giant city less frequented by tourists.

While many flock to the famous Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, we found the Rustem Pasha Mosque — also sporting exquisite blue tiles, but providing a much more intimate experience — hidden in the buildings above the Spice Bazaar.

In the new part of the city located across the Galata Bridge, we discovered modern Istiklal Avenue and its labyrinth of side streets lined with boutique shops and restaurants. Options for dinner were plentiful, but restaurants here fill up fast. So, we entered a dark, nondescript building and took a rickety elevator up to Balkon, a fun bar with affordable local fare and a great view of Istanbul.

After watching a fireworks show — a common site here during the summer — we headed to 360, a posh nightclub with sultry beats that serves hard alcohol and overlooks the entire city.

Finding it wasn't easy, however. Like our dinner destination, 360 was located on the rooftop of a drab building and could only be accessed by way of a tiny, old elevator.

Despite the run-down locale, cocktails here were priced as high as $20. So, throughout the rest of our trip, we stuck to the locals' favorite — Efes beer.

Quiet away from capital

We could have explored Istanbul for weeks, but after the wedding and the long flight, we needed to relax. We found the perfect combination of sightseeing and peace in Cappadocia, a short flight away from the capital.

Famous for its whimsical rock formations that were used for centuries as houses, this region offers a great variety of accessible sites — from cone-shaped cliffs to underground cave cities to ornate ancient monasteries — all carved out of soft volcanic stone. We also explored the region's hiking trails, wineries and pottery studios, where my husband tried his skills as a potter.

Our favorite among the dozen or so cave settlements were the ruins of a village abandoned in the 1950s due to sliding rock. The village seemed to summarize Turkey's paradoxical combination of primitive and advanced — inside its plumbing-free cave homes, inhabitants put up modern light switches.

We also got to play Flinstones in the unforgettable room of the Yunak Evleri Hotel, converted from an ancient cave into a modern, Wi-Fi enabled suite. For dinner, we tried nearby Ziggy's, a small terraced cafe specializing in two of the rarest dishes in Turkey — fresh salads and pastas.

Local flavor

In the morning, after a local rooster woke us, we journeyed to our next destination, Beysehir, a small town on the side of a lake. We were staying here overnight in a local village. The road was long, but beautiful — for several miles we watched as the endless sunflower fields blurred into a bright yellow sea.

On the way, we stopped at Sultanhani caravanserai, a huge inn built in the 13th century for the caravans traveling on the Silk Road. We could imagine tired traders sharing stories around the fire while their camels slept outside as we explored the caravanserai with no one to disturb us but pigeons, whose voices echoed through the empty, soot-covered arches.

When we arrived at Beysehir, we found another of our all-time favorite mosques — Esrefoglu Camii, one of the country's finest wooden mosques with beautiful carvings and a sweet smell of old wood.

After some beer and chips on the side of the lake, we headed to a nearby village to stay with a local family. Although the accommodations were simple, the home-cooked meals turned out to be the tastiest traditional Turkish fare of our entire trip. Over tea, we talked to our hosts about politics (they liked not-yet-elected Barack Obama) and marriage (they told us tolerance helped them stay together for 40 years).

Beauty by the water

Watching the landscape transform from flatlands to pine-covered mountains to tropical grasslands, we arrived in Antalya, where we spent two days enjoying the famously warm Mediterranean waters. In fact, for the next five days, more water was in the cards.

Traveling along a winding coastal road, we made our way to Marmaris, a raucous sea town made popular by its gullets, traditional Turkish yachts. The night scene here was truly astonishing — narrow streets filled with throngs of backpackers going from club to club, drinking tequila often served by children and pretty European women right from street-lining bar stands. But we also managed to find the more scenic part of Marmaris by meandering through its alleys, full of coastal architecture similar to that of Greek islands.

In the evening we boarded the gullet to take us around the many islands of Marmaris Bay, favored by sailors for its tranquil aquamarine waters. During the day, we swam and even tried to fish. And at night, when the captain turned off the lights, we stayed up and watched bright falling stars pierce the pitch-black sky.

We toured Ephesus right before sunset, when the cooler temperatures allowed us to fully enjoy the two-story library, rumored to have a secret passage to the local bordello; the 25,000-seat theater, which until recent reconstruction hosted rock concerts; and numerous temples, shops, bathhouses and other remnants of the bustling ancient civilization.

That night, when half of the lights in Kusadasi suddenly went out, we thought nothing could be more romantic than to lounge on beanbags at an outside cafe while smoking a hookah and listening to a live band doing American rock covers.

Traveling from big cities to tiny villages, from the yellow desert to the azure sea, we saw many sides of this enormous land perched on the edge of two continents, where old tradition mingled with the ever-more-globalized world. It seemed fitting that the country was in transition, just like us.

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