When you see places on Instagram and want to go there to see it for yourself. That was my trip to Pamukkale.
I had seen many pictures of Pamukkale and also it was listed as probably one of most popular tour options from Antalya, so I had to do it.
Pamukkale / Hierapolis
For once, I did NOT book my excursions ahead. Because I was in Antalya to get my teeth done, it would be too hard to plan. Once I knew when my appointments were, I made time to take a day trip.
During a night-stroll in the old town of Antalya I walked by a ‘Nirvana Tours’ location. I stopped in and seen that the cost of a trip to Pamukkale was only 45 Euro ($66.00 Canadian) – yep. BOOKED IT!
The tour included roundtrip transport (Pamukkale is like 250km away), breakfast and visit to a handicrafts workshop. Obviously, it also included the entry into Pamukkale / Hierapolis. For $66.00 I think this was a steal.
They picked me up at about 6:45am and we left to get the other tour passengers. The bus was full, but at least it was comfortable. The drive from Antalya to the handicrafts shop was about an hour and a half. During this time the tour guide gave us some history and information about the city. Most of the people on the bus (including myself) were sleeping.
We arrived at the handicrafts place and I mean, it’s high key a tourist trap – but I guess it worked because I ended up buying something. I happen to have a friend who is a SUPER hippie so these mineral trinkets I knew would make an awesome gift.
The stopover for touristy purchases was about 45 minutes and then we finally went over to our breakfast/lunch location. THIS PART WAS AMAZING.
Probably the best buffet I’ve ever been to. The food was so damn good and I was surprised because the place was so busy. I didn’t expect such high-quality food in a place like this. Very impressed. This was an enjoyable food break.
It was CRAZY busy when we finally arrived at Pamukkale. Tour buses and locals and just wow. To be expected during the height of tourist season, but not so awesome if you want to take time to enjoy the place.
We were told that we had about 1.5hrs to go enjoy the limestone hills and then to meet at a certain time to head over to Cleopatra’s pool for a swim.
There is no other way to describe these limestone grounds besides; it was busy, bring water shoes (if you have sensitive feet), be careful if you’re clumsy like I am and WEAR A LOT OF SUNSCREEN. I was in Europe for 23 days and the only day I burned a little was because of the reflection off the white ground.
Cleopatra’s Pool
After risking my life walking on the limestone whilst being incredibly clumsy, it was refreshing to head over to Cleopatra’s pool for a swim. The tour guide gives you a key for a locker to store your things in before entering, including your cell phone. They do not allow you to take your phone into the pool, so leave the waterproof bags at home.
The story we were told was that Cleopatra herself would come to this pool and bathing in it was what kept her beautiful and her skin nice.
I think because it was so hot this day, I really hoped to dive into some cold/refreshing water but it was warm. The damn water was warm, and it had a lot of people inside of it. I really loathe tourist season.
I swam around for about an hour. They have a professional photographer in the water if you do want pictures, since no phones allowed. Also, be prepared to climb over some columns while in the water. This place is very old and you basically end up doing an obstacle course inside the pool to get to different areas of it.
Should you go visit Pamukkale? I think so. Maybe don’t go during August like I did, though. It is pretty cool to see the limestone grounds and get to swim somewhere that will make you more beautiful.
I’m going out of my way to make this a happy and tourist-friendly post. I will not go into that this is my first time returning home since 2001, nor the emotions that went along with all of that. This will not be about Bosnia’s tormented past. If you are here to read about all those things, well, you’ll have to wait.
This post is solely for the fun and awesome things I saw (and ate) during my short travel through the country I was born in. Eventually, the ‘other’ post will come though, whenever I am finally ready to write and reminisce about it in a more dark way.
But here you are, you want to know what being in Sarajevo and Banja Luka is like, and I’m going to tell you!
Sarajevo, Day 1
I arrived in Sarajevo via bus from Dubrovnik, Croatia on Thursday, August 15th. If you look at the map, the distance from Dubrovnik to Sarajevo isn’t particularly long and I really didn’t think it would take a long time to get there.
L. O. L.
The bus trip wasn’t expensive, it only cost $34.60 CAD (175HRK) from the GetByBus website. The bus itself was fine, I made a friend from Australia on it and I had plenty of leg space. The scenery was absolutely incredible, because Bosnia is a gorgeous country. You know what was NOT awesome? Crossing the goddamn borders between Bosnia and Croatia. I wrote about that debacle just last week in my blog post about taking a day trip to Kravice Falls and Mostar, also from Dubrovnik. I really put myself through this, TWICE.
I believe I arrived in Sarajevo around 3pm (the bus had left Dubrovnik at 8am). Once I arrived I had to take about a 10-minute taxi ride from the bus station over to my AirBnB.
Ah, the AirBnB. I absolutely loved this place! I loved it so much that I stayed there on this Thursday in Sarajevo and on the following Sunday when I returned. I stayed there twice. The host, Edin, and his wife were so welcoming and I was enamored with my apartment. If there is any place I would 10000% book all over again when I visit a city – this would be the one. I believe the cost is $36.00 a night, but I paid $0.00 because I had a bunch of AirBnB credits to use, so I did.
The space is beautiful, big, there’s a balcony and the location? AH! I was like a 8-minute walk from the place I had been wanting to visit this whole time – Baščaršija.
Baščaršija
Baash-char-she-yah
This is THE spot. If you go to Sarajevo, you need to hit up Baščaršija. This is where all the locals and tourists congregate to eat, drink, smoke hookah and overall participate in shenanigans.
Naturally, the absolute first thing I did was head over to find some ćevapi (che-vah-pee) that come with a whole lotta kajmak (k-eye-maak). My friends from Sarajevo all told me I had to go to Željo’s to try out the famous ćevapi in his restaurant.
Now, I get it. They were good. The service is madness because it’s so busy, but the ćevapi were tasty and the kajmak was plentiful. They were most definitely better here than they were in Mostar, so +1 point for Sarajevo.
Following stuffing my face with egregious amounts of kajmak, I decided to keep on walking and exploring Sarajevo. The break from insane amounts of tourists on the street was nice, I had space to roam and the language I mostly heard was Bosnian. I loved that. It’s rare I feel at peace anywhere, but I felt good in my soul while in Sarajevo.
As it was the night before the Sarajevo Film Festival 2019 would begin, the core was bustling with concerts and a food fair. I obviously timed my visit badly, I wish I would have been there during the actual film festival. I know better for next time.
I got my $5 Ultra tourist SIM card (a fucking steal!) and just kept wandering until I found a place to sit and drink. I love people watching and the people (especially men) in Sarajevo sure were fun to look at.
One thing I was a HUGE fan of in Sarajevo was that the second I went to stand up at this table at a bar, a bunch of men offered me their seats. Not saying that Toronto men would never do this but, men here deadass I’ve never ever seen do this and I worked in bars for five years.
I obliged and took the one seat and said thank you. I asked the bartender lady why they all offered me their seats to which she responded with, ‘why the hell do men need to sit? Their lives are already easy enough!‘ LOVE IT.
From there I ended up making friends and sat there drinking with them for a couple of hours. Another thing I was a big fan of, apparently women just don’t pay for anything/much here. I literally spent $0.00 on alcohol that night, and trust me, I video-called my boyfriend as I staggered back to my AirBnB. I was so drunk, in fact, I didn’t know how to open the gate at the AirBnB so in my cute outfit I had to hop a fence. ISN’T LIFE GREAT?
(My mom already knows about this happening, she’s probably mortified reading this knowing I shared it with all of you though. You’re welcome)
As I mentioned, I went right back to staying in Edin’s awesome AirBnB and after landing, I dropped my stuff and went to search for more ćevapi. This time I came across a place called Hodžić. I figured I would try their ćevapi, because life is full of variety you know?
Unlike Zeljo’s, this place gave a smaller portion of kajmak BUT they also had a nice and quiet place to actually enjoy eating my food. I took my time, sat on their patio and breathed in my last night in this amazing city.
They were good ćevapi, but nothing spectacular. I was just happy to be eating.
At the recommendation of my extremely handsome Sarajevo-friend-in-Canada named Boris, I went to this dessert place named Egipat. You know those moments where you’re like ‘yes, I will have one of everything’? – this was one of those. I literally wanted to get everything, but I only got three things. Watching my figure you know? (NOT!)
This place had DELICIOUS desserts and if you’re in Sarajevo and have a sweet tooth, you must visit Egipat.
Banja Luka
On a super early Monday morning, I caught a bus from Sarajevo to Banja Luka – the city I was born in.
The bus was leaving at 5am and I had pre-purchased my bus ticket on GetByBus as well, the cost was $22.61 CAD (114.06 HRK). Apparently this bus was supposed to take 5.25hrs to get from Sarajevo to Banja Luka and I anticipated this would be correct because no more borders right? Urgh.
I think my bus finally arrived in Banja Luka a little after 11am instead. I spent six hours on this damn bus. Thank goodness I had bought that SIM card with a bunch of data on it or I would have suffered severely.
The scenery was beautiful, again. I tried to sleep during some parts of the ride because I had to close my eyes when we made certain turns. Yes, I am a chicken.
When I arrived in Banja Luka my mom was waiting at the bus stop for me. Best part of this whole trip was finally getting to see her. The last time we were in Banja Luka together was when I was about 14-years-old and it sure did look different.
She was finishing up getting her teeth done in Banja Luka so she left me with one of her local friends to chaperone me around my birthplace.
First we went to this bar next to the Vrbas river. I don’t remember much of what this place looked like when I left last, but I know this river. The colours still looked the same to me and I took a nice moment enjoying it all.
Following the bar, we went and did the most important thing in Banja Luka – GET SOME ĆEVAPI!
I foolishly didn’t take a picture or get the name of this little hole in the wall restaurant we went to, but hoooooly. Best ćevapi I’ve ever had. My parents had always told me that the best ćevapi were in Banja Luka, but now I am a strong believer as well. These were far superior to both of the ones in Sarajevo and the one in Mostar.
Banja Luka is known for having the best ćevapi and the best looking women – so duh, here I am.
After the ćevapi we went walking through this area called Gospodska Ulica. My chaperone showed me the sights, I got to see the old building my dad use to work in and I found a pretty good sneaker store. Managed to get my boyfriend a $30 pair of Nikes, real ones! Big win.
The best part was seeing the Ferhadija Mosque. I remember this mosque as a child and it kind of remained in the back of my mind as a symbol of resilience in my life. It was destroyed but it was also rebuilt. Beautiful mosque.
So there you have it, two days in Sarajevo and an afternoon in Banja Luka. You can drink, eat and go pray. Not exactly like ‘Eat, Pray, Love‘ but close enough right?
Also make sure you have one of these when you get to Bosnia:
YES PLEASE.
They had to-go Rakija in the damn convenience store. If you’ve never had it, oh boy, you’re in for a treat. I’m shocked they don’t have more instances of drinking and driving in Bosnia when you have this puppy for purchase. Make sure to drink this!
Go visit Bosnia. Whether it is for Mostar, Kravice Falls, Sarajevo or Banja Luka. I don’t care where you go, just go. The food is amazing, the people are nice and the scenery is serene. If this post taught you anything as well, don’t eat ćevapi just anywhere. It will taste different everywhere, and unless they are Bosnian ćevapi, they aren’t the same. Good way to tell? If the restaurant doesn’t offer kajmak as a side – DON’T EAT THEM THERE. Frauds. They’ll probably offer you ajvar as an alternative and you are a cultured person who will not fall for such a thing.
I’m tired just thinking about the amount of stairs I did in Dubrovnik. By the time I figured out I could maybe walk down to Pile Gate and then take an Uber home later when I want to go home, I’d broken two pairs of sandals and lost 10lbs in water weight. (probably needed that anyways)
Definitely wanted to begin this blog post with a very important message – Dubrovnik is more than the fucking Game of Thrones series. Read that again. With the cursing and everything, I need a lot of you to get that into your brains. This is an exquisite old city and it existed way before GOT and will exist long after. Not that I have any issues with the show itself, I’ve never even watched it. But after repeatedly being asked prior to my trip if I was going to visit this beautiful city JUST for GOT and then having one of my Uber drivers tell me some tourists asked him if the ‘set’ was built just for GOT? (set meaning the structures that were there from the 15th century)
No. Please stop.
Dubrovnik is more than a shooting location for a TV show.
Place to Stay
What is Dubrovnik? Well, let’s start with that is pretty goddamn expensive. I’ve traveled to quite a few place in the world and I believe this may be one of the priciest cities in Europe.
For three nights in an AirBnB I paid $512.83 CAD. That is a high dollar amount for staying somewhere alone and on top of it, I wasn’t even in the city center! I wanted the view over Dubrovnik and I definitely got that. If you can find a good deal for somewhere in the center for a decent price though, please get that. The stairs truly were a pain in the ass.
Although the price for the AirBnB was high, it was worth the money spent. My host was incredible and the place itself was clean, big and had an incredible view. There was NO access by vehicles to the actual location so note that regardless of which route you took, you’d end up walking an extra 10 minutes to get to your unit.
There was also an underrated benefit to this home and it was that it has a washing machine. It was no less than 35 degrees for the three days I was in Dubrovnik and between the day trip to Mostar and Kravice Falls in Bosnia (it was 43 degrees there) and the two different beach days I had, this was VERY useful. Being able to wash your bathing suits, towels and just sweaty clothes at the end of the day and hang to dry on a huge terrace was a blessing.
Banje Beach
I flew into Dubrovnik from Naples and prior to arriving made sure to arrange a private airport pick up because the bus would take too long. I used Dubrovnik Airport Taxi and the driver/service was awesome. The cost was 35 Euros for a private car to take me from the airport to my AirBnB (or as close as he could get). I believed I arrived around 1pm, dropped my things, and headed straight for the beach.
There was this beautiful beach I had seen on Instagram called ‘Banje Beach’ and I was SUPER happy to find out it was only a 13-minute walk from the AirBnB. The walk down the stairs was pretty straightforward and once I arrived, the beach was definitely as beautiful as I had imagined it would be.
Unfortunately I arrived there at a late time in the day for beach goers so there was actually no umbrellas or lounge chairs left to rent. I had to lay my towel down on the rocks and just lay on that. I also tried to be a tough girl and NOT bring down my water shoes – stupid. Bring your damn water shoes, the pebbles in Croatian beaches will mess up your whole foot bottom. Also, if you’re clumsy like I am, you may almost fall a million times in and out of the water because you’re trying to avoid pain.
The beach was totally full. I wanted to enjoy Banje Beach for a longer period of time but I absolutely hate busy beaches. I prefer my beaches to be quiet and have no groups of drunken men who play soccer in the damn water and almost kick you in the head. Oh, and the hoards of screaming children. If you wanted peace and quiet, this is NOT the beach for you.
Because I am very pale, I only stayed at the beach for about two hours. With no umbrella I feel I would have turned red pretty fast and I was not trying to do all that on my first day in Dubrovnik.
Panorama Restaurant
I made a reservation for Panorama Restaurant like two months ahead. At the height of tourist season, I’d suggest you do the same. My reservation was for 9pm so I began walking to catch the cable car at around 8pm. I was lucky because I heard the cable car was out of commission for a long time prior to my arrival.
The lineup to get on was really long and I’m happy a cable car came along every four minutes and could fit about 20 people on it. We moved fast. The roundtrip price for an adult was 170 KN which is about $34.00 CAD.
The ride up is beautiful, especially during sunset. You get a scenic view over all of Dubrovnik and some of the islands nearby.
Once you reach the top you arrive at a nice area for taking pictures and videos of the view, and Panorama is right here as well.
I was let in as soon as I arrived and was lucky enough to get one of the best seats outside. My view was incredible.
From the menu I had the octopus terrine, Mediterranean style squid and finished it off with a chocolate walnut cake. Definitely get the terrine and the cake, to die for!
I should mention after dinner I also made an attempt to go into the center of Dubrovnik by Pile Gate because it looked so busy from Panorama. Much to my dismay, yes it was busy, but it was really just tour groups roaming the streets. I was trying to party and there was no party in sight. Instead I took a couple night shots of the area and took an Uber back up to my AirBnB.
Coral Beach Club
I was supposed to do a day trip to Kotor, Montenegro but that fell through so I decided to try a different beach in Dubrovnik. I found this place called Coral Beach Club.
For this beach, I chose to arrive at around 10am, because I didn’t know if it would be as busy as Banje was. When I arrived, I was the only person on the whole beach and that is my favourite thing in the whole world.
There was no charge for the chair I chose to lay on and they provided free towels as well. I assume if you spent money on food and liquor, you were not charged for the seats? I ended up ordering food, so I guess I was in the clear.
My choice of food was the snails and the charcuterie board. Let me tell you, these snails? They actually surpassed the ones I had in Paris. That is how good they were. If I felt greedy that day, I probably would have ordered like three sets of them. To die for! Make sure you have this at Coral Beach Club.
The only disappointment (please don’t attack me for this) is that children were also at the beach club with their parents. I still think beach clubs should be for humans at least 16 and over, I felt the same at the pool my friend and I visited in Dubai. You’re there, enjoying your liquor, music is playing and suddenly, ‘WUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH SHE HIT MEE!! WUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!’ Sigh. There goes all the sexy and chill in the vicinity. But I get it, families are where the money is because there’s like five of them so 5x the money spent than me, who is alone.
Sadly the skies began to turn gray around 2pm so I headed back to my AirBnB for the early afternoon to relax and work on the blog.
Wandering Around Old Town
It was inevitable that I would end up in the center again.
After leaving the beach club and relaxing for a bit, I had to take a nice and scenic walk around Old Town.
For as busy as the area is, it sure is beautiful. My goodness. There is so much history and shopping and eating to be done. This is for sure a ‘must do’ in Dubrovnik, and to be honest, it’s probably the #1 thing everyone does when visiting. I can’t imagine coming to Dubrovnik and NOT walking around to see all these beautiful, old structures.
I stupidly didn’t get the name of the restaurant I had the most amazing seafood pot from. Look at the picture, I mean, holy shit.
Yes, the pot is supposed to be for two people but mind your damn business OK? I like what I like.
My overall impression of Dubrovnik was a strong 6/10. I left on a Thursday morning to continue my travels and apparently that was a good decision. On Thursdays I was told is ‘cruise day’ wherein four MASSIVE cruises dock at the marina and thousands on thousands of passengers descend into this small area of Old Town.
Tourists are a nuisance. We really are, I get it. I can somewhat understand why the locals in Dubrovnik can’t stand us, I got the same feeling when I was in Venice. Small space, lots of people and everything seemingly dependent on tourism. The same tourism you’re completely annoyed by. However, just like Venice – I am totally fine not returning to Dubrovnik ever again.
It isn’t that the city isn’t beautiful, nor is it boring. But it completely lacked any sense of hospitality to me. When you travel to northern Croatia the people who work in hospitality are so much more nice and hospitable. You get a genuine sense of welcoming. Dubrovnik? (+ Venice alike) It’s literally like ‘okay can you just give me money and NOT speak to me?‘ Again, I totally get tourists are a pain in the ass, but when that is how you make money maybe extending SOME politeness wouldn’t hurt? Especially because it isn’t like any of the food was particularly cheap either, compared to the rest of Croatia. I just felt rushed and not welcome frequently. Maybe that was just me, it could very well be possible. But I sure do go out to eat a lot at home and in every country I travel to, and it really felt like the same thing happened over and over in Old Town. Order. Give food. Give cheque. Absolutely no chatter, no checking if you are enjoying your food, nothing.
While at Panorama (a more high-end restaurant, so I get it) the service was incredible, I just didn’t get that at the beaches (both Banje and Coral Beach) nor at the Old Town eateries. See for yourself I guess.
I 100% suggest you go visit Dubrovnik at some point in your life, but be prepared to kind of feel like a nuisance to locals while spending your money there.
I didn’t even know Bosnia got to 43 degrees (109.4 Fahrenheit) in heat, like, ever. If there is any part of this day trip from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Kravice Falls and Mostar in Bosnia that shocked me, it was the damn weather.
Sorry, I lied.
There was two things that shocked me – the weather and the damn border situation between Croatia and Bosnia. Two big shocks, one long day.
Who thought having to cross three borders to get into the country next to them was a good idea? You literally have to go from Dubrovnik to Neum (in Bosnia), and then cross back into Croatia and then, AGAIN, cross back into Bosnia to head to Mostar and Kravice Falls. What a complete pain in the ass for a hot day and when there’s other large tour buses running at the same damn time. I unfortunately had to go through this process twice during my long trip in Europe and it is a big nuisance and takes up a lot of your time for the day just crossing borders to and from Dubrovnik.
We left at about 6:45am from the Pile Gate area of Dubrovnik and the bus was NOT big. I unfortunately was the last one to board and at 5’9 220lbs I got stuck sitting in the back-right corner of the bus with no space to recline and with the person in front of me reclining THE WHOLE TIME.
Did I mention it was 43 degrees that day? Yeah. Even with the air conditioning that was not helping the amount of water weight I lost that day.
After the fiasco of crossing all those damn borders, we made it to Kravice Falls eventually in the late morning.
What a majestic site. Wow. The pictures for this place don’t do it justice, especially because of how hot it was and how cooling it was to step into those waters.
You walk down a whole lot of pathway to get down to the falls and once you get there, just strip down to your bathing suit and run in. There are also change rooms if you need the privacy for said stripping down. I came there with my bathing suit on underneath my clothes, so I was ready for action immediately.
Even in the early morning the place already does begin to pack up, so I can understand why we had to arrive at this time of day. I bet as it gets past noon etc. it must be incredibly busy. I wish we had more time here, one hour just didn’t feel like enough basking in the beauty that surrounded me, but we had to move on the Mostar next.
Mostar
From Kravice Falls to Mostar was not a long ride and I was happy about that because swimming makes me hungry. (I’m very mean when hungry)
When we arrived in Mostar we had an awesome local guide give us about a 35-40 minute tour from our bus to the old bridge in Mostar. He told us some of the history of the city (both great and tumultuous) and of course, about the bridge itself.
I really liked Mostar. I would probably love it even more when it isn’t so damn hot outside at the peak of the tourist season. It was soooo packed.
If I could give some of you a big tip for coming to visit Mostar – wear shoes with VERY good grip at the bottom of it. I am clumsy and I had regular sandals on and it was a pretty pathetic sight watching me try to walk on their rocky roads. You will see a picture below of what the roads there look like and yeah, like an ongoing foot massage that may lead to you faceplanting in a very public place. On top of the bridge and in the streets where all the market stalls are, it was an interesting walk for me and my no-grip shoes.
The bridge was exceptional to finally witness in person and to stand on top of. The history is very sad, but with the sadness there’s this amazing resilience in its presence. I felt good being there. If you want the local men to jump from the bridge, you’re going to have to put together 50 Euros. A lot of people in my group expected random dudes to be constantly risking their bodies jumping off of it, no. Pay up.
I did learn that the history of men jumping from the bridge began as a way to impress women. If you were brave and strong, to show how serious you were about a girl you’d jump off that bridge to show her that. Furthermore, apparently there are two ways to jump off the bridge and the one where it requires you to go head-first was reserved for the best looking women. Our guide said this lead to some men dating less attractive women, because they knew they couldn’t do that jump. I found this all hilarious because telling men to go jump off a bridge is a personal hobby of mine, except it isn’t for love but to get the hell away from me.
The cevapi in Mostar were also quite good, I do need to mention that. I liked them, they weren’t up to Banja Luka standards but they were tasty nonetheless. Make sure to also try the pomegranate juice while there!
Overall, I really enjoyed this day trip. I would love to return to both places but have a whole day or two to take them fully in. It’s important for me to highlight beautiful places like Mostar and Kravice Falls to people because Bosnia isn’t just ‘the country that had that war‘. We have a lot of natural beauty and even more culture to share.
I hope some of you read this and consider visiting Bosnia to see somewhere as beautiful as Kravice Falls and as fascinating as Mostar.
I have been working towards getting my teeth done since the beginning of 2019. All those damn overnight shifts and doubles finally came to fruition now that I FINALLY GOT MY TEETH.
Initially I was going to wait a week or so after the procedure was completed to post this, but I hate repeating myself answering the same questions over and over again. Where did you do this? How much was it? Meow meow meow meow meow. Well here is a blog post explaining it all, with pictures!
For the pre-trip information you can read all about that here. This explains all the planning process, the contacting Dental Centre Turkey, why I wanted to get my teeth done and also will help stop some of you from asking dumbass questions or making dumbass comments.
The information below is everything that happened in the past eight days of me getting this dental work done in Antalya, Turkey! It is my experience and overall a review of Dental Centre Turkey.
The First Day
Saturday, August 17th was my first appointment. At noon I was picked up by my private driver and taken to the Dental Centre Turkey, Antalya location. I was happy because it was only a 12 minute drive from my hotel so the back and forth was quick.
I loved the driver because he was all about doing it for ‘Gram. He offered to take my picture as I sat down in the vehicle and he even took a video of me getting out of it and going to enter the clinic. A team sport!
Once I arrived I filled out all the necessary medical information and was taken to get x-rays. I would like to note here that for those of you who HATE the x-rays when they put those things in your mouth and make you gag – it isn’t one of those. This is the super high-tech one that spins around your head and you just bite something with your two front teeth.
I waited about an hour for them to check out my x-rays and figure out what was wrong/what needed to be done. During that time I sat in their lobby and made friends with the Brits all getting their teeth done there, enjoyed their free wi-fi and also drank some fancy pants looking water. They have tea, water, milkshakes etc. for you to drink while you wait.
Eventually the dentist came down and brought me upstairs to talk to me about what I wanted done, my goals, and a cosmetic oral surgeon also checked out my mouth to give his opinion. I was lucky because I had no other issues with my teeth (cavities, etc) on the x-rays so all that needed to be done was what I came there for.
16 veneers, eight at the top and eight at the bottom
1 dental crown on this HUGE filling I had on my upper left side
Gum contouring on my upper teeth so I wouldn’t have such a gummy smile anymore
The cosmetic surgeon agreed that all of this could be done and told me what to expect in term of aesthetics. After that the photographer came in and I had a whole photo shoot of my ‘before‘ mouth. I’m talking WHOLE ass production. The guy took pictures of them up close, me smiling, and then also took me to their little photo studio to take pictures there as well. Was very happy at this moment that prior to coming on this trip I went and got my chin and upper lip sugared. Sheesh.
Following the photo shoot myself and the dentist sat down and she outlined everything I would have done and asked me to choose the type of veneer I want and also the shade of tooth. I went for the Zirconium Crowns in a BL2 shade. I had to underline and bold that because it is a frequently asked question. BL1 was a little too bright for me and I just didn’t see the need to get the EMAX or CEREC veneers. If you want to know the different between all three types of veneer, please click here.
The dentist broke down the price, and I signed off on all the work and the price of it. This is another question I probably get asked the most, ‘how much did the dental work cost?‘
Total Cost = 3290 GBP / $5473.56 CAD
Here is the price breakdown sheet I was given and the cost of the conversion when I paid with my card:
Price BreakdownCost in Canadian Dollars
Works for me, this shit would be like $21,000 in Canada. *shrugs*
I was very lucky at this point because they started working on me the same day. Within two hours of having my x-rays done, the procedures began.
The Procedures
The needles fucking suck. There, I said it.
I have a horrible needle phobia and the amount of needles needed to numb your mouth is WILD. Although I am obviously grateful that I was numb for things that probably hurt even more, yes, still sucked.
There are two people working on your and this is how my process went:
First they take impressions of both your upper and lower teeth so they can make your temporary teeth for later.
They used a q-tip to apply numbing cream to my upper gums where the numbing needles would be injected for the gum contouring and filing down.
They injected about 6-8 needles to my upper gums to numb the area.
First they did the gum contouring, you don’t feel a damn thing.
I should note here, some people mentioned they were bothered by the burning smell, I was not? Thank goodness.
After the contouring they proceeded to file down my upper eight teeth with various drills and instruments. Again, you do not feel a damn thing because you are numb all the way up to your nose.
Note here again, some people mentioned they wanted to gag from the taste of their own tooth shavings, it didn’t bother me at all. Maybe the dental assistant just did a really good job of suctioning? I didn’t taste anything.
Now my lower gums had the same steps as 2 + 3 done, except, injections to your lower gums hurt WAY MORE because there’s less flesh between the needle and your damn jaw bone. Lord.
I did not have contouring done to my lower gums so they went straight to filing down my lower eight teeth.
After this was done I was totally numb from my nose to my chin and looked like baby shark doo doo doo dooo do…..
Another note here – they no longer allow pictures inside where they work on you, so no pictures of the shark teeth. Sorry.
They took another set of impressions of my top and bottom teeth while filed down, so the temporary teeth would be able to sit properly.
Got my temporary teeth placed.
Where All My Work Was DoneThe Temporary Teeth
Post-Procedure
When they finished me up and I had the temporary teeth in they explained some of the stuff I can and cannot eat while I have them in and gave me my prescriptions for the week. There would be no crunchy or sticky food for the week, not a big loss. The adjustment to the temporary teeth wasn’t so awesome because to me they felt HUGE. Also, they were porous? I don’t know how to describe it. Our teeth feel so flat and clean, while these things got everything and anything I ate stuck to them.
The prescriptions were an antibiotic I’d take twice a day, a mouthwash to use three times a day and a painkiller to have just in case. All three came to about $18.00 CAD.
The Prescriptions
Much to my surprise, my next appointment was not scheduled until Friday, August 23rd. I wasn’t too upset because I assumed this would give my gums plenty of time to heal and I could go to lots of activities in Antalya during that time. (which I did) I liked the time away and not having to go back and forth regularly because that would cut into my tourist time and I was trying to enjoy this medical tourism as much as I could.
I should mention – THANK GOD FOR THOSE PAINKILLERS!!!
While you’re numb you are annoyed because you drool non-stop and look like a weirdo, but when that shit wears off? Oh lord. I’m not sure that it was necessarily the pain from the filing of the teeth, I think it was more so the gum contouring. I made the mistake of waiting until the numbing wore off to finally take a painkiller. DON’T DO THAT. Start them ASAP. The painkillers are very strong and I think I took three (one every four hours) in the first day of having my temporaries in. After that, I actually didn’t use them again for the rest of the week. Just that first 24 hours is a bit of a shock to your system with the pain and the soreness.
Eating is a little difficult with the temporaries as well, but you do get use to it. I was happy I only chose to go for the 17 teeth instead of like 20+, because I still had my back teeth to chew with if I was feeling weird.
Fitting Day
Friday, August 23rd came and it was FITTING DAY!
This would be the day I would get to try on my new veneers one by one and decide if any adjustments needed to be made.
Prepare yourself for when they remove your temporary teeth because your filed teeth are super sensitive. When they were placing and removing my veneers I definitely was feeling that sensitivity and it was not awesome.
Once they placed my veneers on for the first time, I got to get up and go look at myself in the mirror to check them out. The lower set looked amazing and so did the sides of my upper set, except the two front teeth. To me, the two front teeth were too square and it looked way too fake for me. So I told them that I wanted them to be more round so it would look more natural.
They removed my veneers and explained it to the designer of the teeth and he took them away to work on them some more. I waited about 30 minutes for my teeth to be adjusted before I got to try them on again. Perfect. I loved the new design of them and I was ready to have them placed permanently.
Unfortunately, to have your permanent veneers placed you had to go through a whole new round of injections to your gums. I swear this time I got no less than 12 to my top and 12 to bottom. Agony. I hated this part!
They placed my permanent veneers and then took impressions of the bottom teeth so they could make my gum shield to wear at night to protect them.
The Final Appointment
8:45am on Saturday morning I went in for my final appointment.
The soreness and pain from the day earlier was still there because I guess now my gums have to adjust to these newly cemented-in teeth.
Eating sucked the first time with the new veneers as well because you swear you’re going to bite into something and the tooth will fall out. But it is all mental and I ate breakfast on the Saturday just fine.
Once I got to the office they did their final inspections of what my mouth looked like with new the smile and also checked my bite. Some drilling/adjustments had to be made so my bite would be precise or would work with my old teeth + my new teeth. No pain today, they just flossed between the teeth to get rid of any leftover dental cement and I had a whole new photo shoot.
I signed off on the completed product, was given my gum shield, a new set of prescriptions to have just in case and a pamphlet of information on how to care for my veneers going forward.
Here are the pictures you probably were waiting for, the before and afters of my teeth from three different angles:
FrontRight SideLeft Side
Conclusion
I’m so damn happy. All the work leading up to this point was worth it and so was the pain in doing the procedures. It took eight days to complete my teeth, but only three appointments. Not bad, happy they let my gums heal over the days in between appointments.
Now that I have written this, if there is something I didn’t cover between the two blog posts about getting my teeth done in Turkey – just shoot me an e-mail from my contact form. I hope this was informative enough and that I gave an adequate enough review of Dental Centre Turkey as well.
Not everyone can afford dental work in their own country so I understand many people may also seek to go abroad to get the work done. If I can be of any help, I will try to be of help as much as possible.
If you are wondering how much the things you need done to your mouth would cost at Dental Centre Turkey, there is an online price list that you can find by clicking here. Furthermore, if words and pictures didn’t suffice, I made a whole ‘dental work’ highlight thingy on my Instagram page and you can find that by clicking here. It has my play-by-play as the days went on, you can go through the anxiety + suffering + happiness with me. Also, I wrote an update ONE YEAR AFTER (Aug 24, 2020) getting my teeth done to update everyone, and you can find that here. Note – I’m well into 2024 now and no, none of my teeth have fallen out. Yay.
Finally, if you are planning to go visit Antalya, I wrote a blog post about all the activities I did around my appointments. You can find that blog post here.
