Where We Stayed

This post will conclude our travel series to Germany and Istanbul.  When they hear that I am traveling somewhere, people ask me how we can afford to go to so many places.  One trick is to ensure you are taking advantage of reward points, whether with airlines or hotels.  We are partnered with Marriott, which has a generous reward program, so I was able to cash in our points for our stay in Istanbul. In Istanbul, we stayed in the Orientbank Hotel, a lovely hotel that is centrally located to all the attractions.  The rooms are designed with a luxurious attention to detail.  The staff is wonderful.  I couldn't say a bad thing about this hotel.  We stayed three nights. The hotel was built originally in the 1920s by a German financier and was built as a bank.  It sat empty for many years and was eventually turned into a hotel.  Another cool hotel feature is its rooftop bar, which provides a wonderful city view. If you are a fan of 007 movies, this hotel will be familiar as it was featured in one of their movies.  

Since there were no Marriott partners in Cappradocia,  I booked a hotel via Bookings.com.  I really like their cancelation policy and have always had very good luck using their website to find hotels.  We stayed at the Lunar Hotel.  Hotels are not cheap in Cappadocia as they have totally capitalized on the popularity to go there that has come from social media.  We stayed at the Lunar Hotel.  It was a lovely hotel with unique rooms.  The rooms were clean and the stay was friendly and helpful. The only thing missing was a pool.  

Our final hotel stay in Germany on the Tegernsee was a splurge, as we just celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. We stayed at the newly completed Caro and Selig, a Marriott-affiliated hotel. The hotel was stunning, and the view was spectacular. I wish we had more time to enjoy the beautiful lake and nearby village. Part of this was due to the timetable of the wedding events, and the rest was due to bad weather. We would love to go back someday.