Kelebek Cave Hotel Review: The Best Hotel in Cappadocia

Most of the time I am the one who choose our hotel/ hostel/ apartment for our family holiday. But there are times when mr.husband told me to see one hotel and his choice all this time always very special.

Just like when we were doing our research to find accommodation in Cappadocia, mr.husband told me to see Kelebek Cave Hotel. And it was love at the first sight! I didn't see any other hotel, I sent email to the reservation  right away.

Located above the village of Goreme, Kelebek Cave Hotel offers incredible view to the village, valleys, mountains and of course the balloons (in the morning). They have cave or cave stone rooms, even they also have the fairy chimneys rooms. And of course we book one of their fairy chimney room.

One of the fairy chimney room at Kelebek Cave Hotel

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Unforgettable Experience in Cappadocia: Organic Breakfast From Kelebek Cave Hotel

Cappadocia is not only about the balloons hunting or the balloons ride. This place is special for us also because of the experience staying at Kelebek Cave Hotel. I haven't written my review about the hotel yet, but as I am trying to have a healthy lifestyle at the moment, I would like to share with you about our Organic Breakfast which was provided by the hotel.

When I sent email to the hotel before booking our rooms, I asked the hotel regarding the Organic Breakfast. The hotel staff replied my email and said that the breakfast is free for the guests staying at Kelebek Cave Hotel. What lovely!

On our third morning at Cappadocia, we were transferred by a tractor from the hotel to one farm located down the hill. And when we got there, the fresh and organic vegetables welcome us. For sure, it was an unforgettable experience that we had in Cappadocia.

Look at those yummy food!

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Naik Balon Udara di Cappadocia Turki dan Vlog

Akhirnya saya menulis juga posting ini, pengalaman kami naik balon udara di Cappadocia. Setiap kali saya menulis tentang balon udara, berat rasanya karena saya kemudian ingin membeli tiket pesawat ke Cappadocia #halah!

Salah satu yang wajib dilakukan ketika liburan ke Turki adalah mengunjungi Cappadocia untuk naik balon udara. Sebetulnya, naik balon udara bisa di banyak tempat, di Melbourne juga bisa. Tapi pemandangannya tidak akan seunik di Cappadocia.

Karena itu, kami merencanakan dengan matang dan tinggal cukup lama di Cappadocia (4 hari 3 malam). Sebagai bagian dari risk management, jika balon udara tidak terbang di hari yang kami inginkan, kami masih punya hari berikutnya.

Ternyata kami tetap terbang sesuai rencana, yaitu pada hari ketiga kami berada di Cappadocia. Walaupun kemudian datang angin kencang, hingga Mr.Pilot menurunkan balon udara lebih cepat dari waktu seharusnya. Saat-saat menegangkan, yang membuat saya akan berpikir dua kali untuk naik balon udara lagi:D

Travel dreams do come true

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Sunrise Balloon Hunting in Goreme, Cappadocia

We had spent our four amazing days in the city of Goreme in Cappadocia, and we spent each morning for balloon hunting, and of course our unforgettable balloon ride.

Goreme is a city that comes life at 5 am. You will see vans picking up guests from hotel for the balloon ride, or tourists walking to a sunrise point for the balloon hunting in Cappadocia.

We will share our two amazing morning chasing the balloons. The first morning, we woke up early from our cave room at Kelebek Cave Hotel, and thank God we were not late. The balloons were already up in the sky.

Seeing the balloons from the terrace of Kelebek Cave Hotel

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Sewa Mobil di Cappadocia

Salah satu travel dreams yang sudah sekian lama ada di dalam bucketlist kami adalah naik balon udara. Kami pernah berencana naik balon udara sewaktu berlibur ke Melbourne, namun kami batalkan karena memang impian kami adalah naik balon udara di Cappadocia.

Setelah akhirnya kami membeli tiket ke Istanbul, dilanjutkan dengan domestic flight dari Istanbul ke Cappadocia dengan Fly Pegasus, kemudian kami bingung apakah perlu sewa mobil di Cappadocia?

Untuk menuju Cappadocia, kami memilih terbang dari Istanbul ke Nevsehir Airport karena jam penerbangan yang lebih cocok. Dari Nevsehir airport, terdapat jasa penjemputan dari hotel yang kami pilih, Kelebek Cave Hotel. Atau kami juga bisa naik taksi sekitar 80 euro. 

Akhirnya kami memutuskan sewa mobil untuk explore Cappadocia, agar lebih mudah menjelajah kota Goreme. Memasuki kota Goreme, pemandangan yang menakjubkan menyambut kami, dan saat itu saya merasa bahwa keputusan sewa mobil di Cappadocia adalah sangat tepat :)

Welcome to the magnificent city of Goreme

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Istanbul With Kids: Visiting Istanbul SEA Life Akvayrum

Having visited and had super fun seeing the Dugong at Sydney SEA Life Aquarium, we wanted to visit another aquarium during our family holiday in Istanbul. When we did our research on kids friendly places in Istanbul, we found out that there's SEA Life Akvaryum in Istanbul. Of course we put it in our itinerary right away! 

It is located inside a huge shopping mall called Forum Istanbul. From the first time we arrived at Forum Istanbul, we saw a huge advertisement of the Istanbul SEA Life Akvaryum.

Welcome to Forum Istanbul Shopping Mall:)

There are 2 huge aquariums in Istanbul, please don't get confused. We visited the one with "SEA Life" brand which belongs to the same group company with SEA Life Sydney, SEA Life Bangkok, etc, which is called Merlin Entertainment.

It was not difficult to find Istanbul SEA Life Akvaryum, the sign inside the shopping mall was really clear. Other than SEA Life Akvaryum, there's also Legoland Discovery Center inside the Forum Istanbul. However, we didn't have the chance to visit the Legoland Discovery Center. We spent hours inside the SEA Life Istanbul.

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Mengunjungi Topkapi Palace Istanbul

Saya harus memulai posting ini dengan menulis: inilah tempat di Istanbul yang paling berkesan untuk saya. Sebelum mengunjungi Topkapi Palace, saya sudah riset mengenai koleksi barang berharga yang ada di sana. Tentunya yang sangat ingin kami lihat adalah pedang Nabi Muhammad SAW. Dan saat saya melihat sendiri pedang tersebut, Subhanallah, saya sangat rindu kepada Rasulullah SAW. Tidak terasa air mata pun menetes. 

Topkapi Palace merupakan sebuah istana di atas bukit yang dibangun atas perintah Sultan Mehmed II, dan menjadi kediaman resmi Sultan Utsmaniyah selama lebih dari 600 tahun.

In front of Babusselam Gate

Kami menghabiskan waktu setengah hari untuk melihat semua koleksi peninggalan sejarah di Topkapi Palace. Dan karena saya sangat menyukai tempat ini, posting mengenai Topkapi akan dipenuhi banyak foto. Setiap sudut di Topkapi Place terlalu indah untuk tidak diabadikan:)

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Sholat di Little Hagia Sophia Mosque atau Kucuk Ayasofya Camii

Salah satu hal yang paling saya suka di Istanbul adalah mengajak kedua Kiddos untuk melihat keindahan berbagai masjid yang ada di sana. Selama ini kami jarang mengunjungi masjid ketika liburan ke luar negeri. Karena jalan-jalan kali ini adalah ke Turki yang merupakan negara dengan mayoritas penduduk Muslim, kesempatan mengagumi keindahan masjid tidak kami sia-siakan.

Setelah menulis tentang Hagia Sophia, mari kita lanjutkan cerita mengenai masjid yang berbentuk mirip Hagia Sophia, dan berada hanya 3 menit jalan kaki dari apartemen Airbnb yang kami sewa di daerah Fatih, Sultan Ahmet.

Dari luar memang tampak mirip dengan Hagia Sophia, namun dengan ukuran kecil. Orang Turki menyebut masjid ini dengan nama Kucuk Ayasofya Camii (Camii dalam Bahasa Turki artinya masjid).

The peaceful mosque of Little Hagia Sophia

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Mengunjungi Hagia Sophia di Istanbul: Gereja, Masjid dan Kini Museum

Hari ini perasaan saya sangat sedih. Sejak bangun pagi hari, Iwan sahabat saya mengirimkan pesan whatsapp di group kepada mr.husband, "Ne, ada kudeta di Turki". Ya Allah, sungguh berat ujian untuk Turki...

Pengalaman liburan di Turki (di dua kota: Istanbul dan Cappadocia) setelah Bandara Ataturk diserang bom bunuh diri pada 28 Juni 2016 yang lalu, membuat kota ini sepi dari wisatawan manca negara. Saya kemudian membayangkan bagaimana jumlah turis akan terus turun, setelah peristiwa kudeta ini.

Padahal Istanbul adalah kota yang sangat menarik, yang memiliki masjid yang indah, juga berbagai peninggalan sejarah yang sangat terawat. Kami mengunjungi berbagai museum di Istanbul, and we seen many amazing things!

Museum pertama yang kami kunjungi adalah Hagia Sophia (dalam bahasa Yunani), atau Sancta Sophia dalam bahasa latin dan The Church of the Divine Wisdom dalam bahasa Inggris. Sementara itu, orang Turki menyebutnya Aya Sofya.

Our Kiddos were on the 2nd floor of Hagia Sophia

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Fish Sandwich (Balik Ekmek) at Galata – Istanbul

The famous fish sandwich or in Turkish called "Balik Ekmek, was our “most wanted” Turkish food before we arrived in Turkey. It was started when mr.husband saw a tv show about one traveller who was enjoying Balik Ekmek near Galata bridge in Istanbul. Ever since, we talked a lot about the Balik Ekmek: how the sellers made the sandwich on a boat, how big the portion was but on the contrary how small the tables and seats are.

Our bucketlist checked on the second day we were in Istanbul. In a search for a beautiful sunset, we went to Galata Bridge. However, as we took pictures first of Ramazhan Iftar at Sultan Ahmet area (breakfasting), we arrived too late for the sunset.

We had just missed the sunset around Eminonu Bus Terminal and the Galata Bridge

We arrived just few minutes after the iftar, so the stalls were full, but we managed to find our tables. There were up to four stalls, we stopped at the first one (actually we didn’t know which one to choose:p)

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Ramazan (Ramadhan) Iftar at Blue Mosque - Sultan Ahmet Istanbul

It has been a dream of mine to feel how it's like to enjoy Ramadhan in other muslim country. I would like to learn the different culture, food they consume at Iftar (break fasting time), and the night prayer that we called tarawih.

This Ramadhan of 2016, I spent two weeks in Istanbul and Cappadocia with the whole family including my parents. They always wanted to go to Turkey, and so did I: Turkey has been on my bucketlist for years!

We stayed around Sultan Ahmet, which made us visited Sultan Ahmet Square almost everyday to enjoy the Ramazan iftar which is celebrated at the park around Sultan Ahmet, as well as in front of the Blue Mosque.

Getting ready for the Ramazan iftar near the Hippodrome

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Transit at Istanbul Atatuk Airport

We finally arrived at Istanbul Ataturk Airport at 5.45 am. We had to transit for another five hours. I really want to go outside the airport, we had to buy visa on arrival which cost USD25, before heading to the customs. But as the time is very limited, I decided just to stay at the airport. 

First thing we did was the toilet break, it was when I realized that I have left my jacket in the aircraft! Aaarrgh..! So I went to the airport information desk to ask what can I do. The lady said I need to go downstair to the Turkish Airline transfer desk. I went there by myself, and Alhamdulillah the ground staff from Turkish airline went inside the aircraft and found my jacket! Got to be more careful next time:p It's my luck that I still get my jacket.

Then I continued doing the Subh prayer at the Masjid near the transfer desk.

After window shopping for a while, I tried to get the free wifi. Too bad there were no free wifi available, no PC with internet available, no free water available, like in Changi Airport. The airport is not that big, but has a huge duty free area.

They also have Old Bazaar shop selling Turkish Delight and Turkish souvenirs.

It has a foodcourt, and of course the famous Turkish ice cream stall is available at the airport.

We can shop using our euro, but they will give the change in their Turkish money. I just look around, and enjoy myself writing on my tab.

Our trip continued to Budapest, again with Turkish airline. Before boarding, the security at the gate is at the maximum level, they really checked each and every passenger.



written on October 16, 2011 by @tesyasblog

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