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[quote=Anonymous]I'll join the chorus of people who recommend that you don't give Istanbul short shrift; it's one of my favorite cities in the world. That said, if you are set on doing a few days elsewhere, check out Pegasus Airlines. They fly from Istanbul to most of the main tourist destinations and the flight prices are ridiculously cheap-- $20-$30 each leg. That saves a lot on travel time; Turkey is a big country! The jets I flew on were very much like, say, Southwest. Just keep in mind that most of the Pegasus flights go out of the other airport in Istanbul, not the international one that you will arrive at.

Bodrum was fun, but I personally wouldn't recommend it for you. With only one week in Turkey, I'm guessing that you aren't really looking for the resort/beach/clubbing experience. Bodrum has some interesting sites, but most of the area caters to the European vacationers who use that area (as well as the Turkish Rivera) in a similar manner as Americans use the Caribbean. We met many people from the UK, Germany, etc who fly down for a weekend in sunny weather. It was fun, but we had 2 weeks and we agreed afterward that the overall experience wasn't that much different from a lot of other beachside destinations around the world.

Ephesus is an unique experience because it is the most extensive attempt to reconstruct the city from ruins, and it was a major hub back in the day. That said, it can get pretty run over with tourists and you can find similar things (for the most part) elsewhere. Probably the only truly impressive thing was the library. People talk about the amphitheater, but while big, a lot of the seats were patched up with concrete and it just wasn't as well preserved as others I've seen.

That brings me to one place that others haven't mentioned: Pamukkale. The ruins of Hieropolis are nowhere near as extensive as Ephesus, but the amphitheater is pretty well preserved and the necropolis is interesting especially if you get a tour guide. The museum on-site is very cheap and well worth the money, with some lovely sculptural examples. Then there is the hot spring and the travertines-- unique things that make it worth staying one night, especially since that means you can be at the travertines towards sunset when most of the tourists leave. (Most tourists stay elsewhere and bus in, but Pamukkale has some cute B&B's and hotels that you can stay overnight at; Melrose Place Hotel was where we stayed and it was charming.) I wouldn't stay more than one night, though... while there are a lot of unique things to see, you can finish them all in 1-2 days. If you plan to go along the coast anyways, it'd be worth making a stop there.

Cappadocia was great and probably is the one other site I would recommend. Besides the underground cities mentioned by someone else, there is also the Goreme Open Air Museum (lots of old churches) and some of the hiking in the area is relatively light. Kelebek Cave Hotel in Goreme has some of the best food we ate while we were in Turkey (the only meal that was clearly better was a home-cooked meal in a local's home). The hot air balloon was a lot of fun, but not an absolute necessity-- just a great view of the landscape. I'm assuming you'd stay in Goreme because that is such a cute area. Urgup is nearby and you can do wine tasting there as well as find some more good food; most of the restaurants in Goreme really aren't that great. That said, unless you focus exclusively on doing tours or secure some sort of transportation, there may be a LOT of walking. So if you are severely limited in physical activity, I wouldn't recommend it for now.[/quote]

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