Bus Service Is a Turkish Delight

Turkey is a favorite with backpackers because it offers economical transportation and lodgings, intriguing and accessible historical ruins and unique experiences, such as hiking through the surreal landscape of Cappadocia, with its ancient underground cities.

You can get around Turkey easily on your own, but if you prefer the company of other adventurers, expert advice and transportation that drops you off and picks you up at key sites and hostel doors, the Fez Bus is a good option.

Fez Bus, which was created by a New Zealand visitor, offers tours and a hop-on-hop-off bus service. Special rates are offered to students and travelers under 26. For example, the 11-day “Magic Carpet” tour with bed-and-breakfast accommodations, departing Istanbul on Feb. 4 and 18 and March 4 and 18, costs $386.

In April special tours are timed to coincide with remembrance services at the World War I battlefields of Gallipoli. For any age, a five-day camping tour is $252, a 10-day hostel/hotel tour is $410 and a 15-day hostel/hotel tour is $578.

The bus tour begins with six departures in late April and early May. From June 1 to Oct. 17, it departs Istanbul at least every second day. Stops are made at key tourist sites and budget accommodations along the route.

Passengers can begin their journey anywhere and make stops as they choose. For students and young adults, the cost of a circular-route season pass is $150. Others are charged $170. Passes are available for parts of the route.

Buses start in Istanbul and travel south in a counterclockwise direction, first heading for Gallipoli Peninsula. You can hop off if you want and head for the historic site of Troy, or stick with the bus as it continues down the Aegean coast to the ruins of Pergamum and on to the most well-known ruins in Turkey--Ephesus. While in the region you can visit the House of the Virgin Mary, where, some say, the mother of Jesus lived out her life after having been taken there by St. John. From nearby Kusadasi the ferry leaves for the Greek island of Samos. The bus continues down the Aegean coast for the opportunity to visit the temple of Apollo and to enjoy beaches and harbor cruises.

Continuing south, there are opportunities for white-water rafting and visiting the Butterfly Valley (by boat), with its beach and waterfalls. After passing picturesque fishing villages, the bus arrives at Olympos, where travelers usually stay in treehouses a short walk from the beach.

From here you can explore Chimaera, where Vulcan, the god of fire, was worshiped during the 2nd century BC. The route then takes passengers up to the ruins of Termessos (one of the highest amphitheaters in Turkey), and then on to the city of Konya, home of the whirling dervishes. The final key stop is Cappadocia, a collection of valleys with giant formations carved by nature from volcanic ash that fell 10 million years ago. It is riddled with ancient churches that were hollowed out of the porous material. Today you can stay in hostel rooms that also are carved out of the volcanic hills.

The Fez Bus then returns to Istanbul, site of the Topkapi Palace (home of Ottoman sultans until the 18th century), the Aya Sophia (a Byzantine church dating from the 5th century) and the Blue Mosque (built by the Ottomans in the 17th century).

For details, visit the Fez Travel Internet site at https://www.feztravel.com, or contact the office at 15 Akiyik Caddesi, Sultanahmet, Istanbul, Turkey; telephone 011-90-212-516-9024, fax 011-90-212-638-8764.

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Lucy Izon is a Toronto-based freelance writer. Internet https://www.izon.com.