september 27, 2011 (travel day)

The day started off crazy early, after a bit of a rough night. We went to bed around 11pm but something I ate (likely the yummy but greasy kofte ki-something) did not sit well and I was up feeling sick the whole night. But I survived without incident and we had to get up to be ready for a 4:30am pickup. The guy didn’t show up until closer to 5 and then got lost several times on the way to the airport! But we made it. They made us check our carry-on bags which was a bummer but it was fine. First flight was fine, nothing special. Second flight, Jose ended up next to this guy who smelled seriously bad. It was horrible. We actually had to breathe through a scarf. I think the guy realized how bad he smelled though because he moved to a place nobody was sitting (even though his family was right next to us) and put on his jacket!

Anyhow, we got through the flights and hopped on an airport shuttle that was hopefully going to get us somewhere near where our pension was. We pointed at the map and the driver assured us he would let us know when to get off, which he did. But when we got out we were hopelessly lost! There were absolutely no street signs and we had no idea where we were and also no full map of antalya – only the pseudo-map of the little area we were staying in called Kaleçi. Anyway after wandering around asking multiple people “nerede Kaleçi” and having them point generally in one direction but nothing further, we finally found a friendly somewhat English-speaking guy who gave us pretty clear directions to Kaleçi. We finally got there, to the old town, and it was so cool. Except that the streets were like a maze and we realized how woefully inept our little lonely planet map was! But we just kept trying to wander down and to the right because we knew the place was in that general direction. We finally found it and went in to speak with reception. Bad news for us – they were putting us up in a neighboring hotel because they were so busy! Annoying to say the least. The place we are staying now, the Mert Hotel, leaves much to be desired. But it’s basically clean and functional so we’re okay for the most part. Really the one big issue is that they blare music videos on the tv at top volume into the night, Apparently the proprietor runs a bar out of the same place but has no speakers so plays music from the lobby next door – very loudly. And unfortunately our room is right there. little worried about sleep tonight. Tomorrow morning we will try to convince the original place to let us stay there our last night. It’s frustrating because we booked months in advance. Oh well!

Anyway we got into our room and almost promptly fell asleep and didn’t wake up until dinnertime. At that point we headed out to grab food and found a really nice place just around the corner. I was able to try manti, which is Turkish style ravioli. It is little tiny pasta pockets of minced meat in a creamy yogurt sauce. Yum! After that, back to the hotel and off to bed. Okay off to bed but up for at least an hour or two with the crazy loud music. After we couldn’t take it anymore Jose went down to complain and they at least turned it down a bit enough for us to sleep.

No photo gallery today, will just leave you with the one picture we took while at the restaurant (oh by the way, there are cats EVERYWHERE in turkey!):

september 26, 2011
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This was our last full day in Göreme and it started super early with a 5:15am pick-up for a hot air balloon ride. They brought us to the office to have coffee and bread/cookies, and then it was back into the van to head to the launch site. The ride was beautiful but we didn’t have much movement because there was no wind. We mostly went up and down. But it was pretty awesome being able to check out all the many paths we had hiked from above. Amazing to see all the distance we traversed. After the balloon ride we had champagne at the landing site and the company very smartly sold us photos of ourselves that they took right before we took flight.

Post champagne we headed back to the pension and relaxed a bit before heading down to have a real breakfast. As always, yummy. After that we set out for the day’s activities. Today was all about hiking to the fairy chimneys. We hopped on a local bus to the next village, Cavusin, which we had hiked to a couple days prior. From there we wandered about for a bit until we finally found the path through the mountains to the fairy chimneys. I have to say we had some amazing hikes here and one of the best parts was that we were, for the most part, totally alone. This one was completely empty until the very end. Everybody visits the fairy chimneys but most people don’t hike there, they take a tour. So these folks arrive by road from below and we get to arrive from above, via mountain hike, and be totally separated from the crowds. After getting there we had to figure out how to get back to Cavusin. Instead of retracing our steps through the hills we decide to try to cut a path through the valleys in the middle. We were basically lost but just tried to generally head down and to the right, and eventually we found our way back to Cavusin. Success! We went back to the same place for the same lunch plus an extra beer. Then we headed down to the bus stop to wait for the bus back to goreme.

While waiting we ended up getting picked up for a ride back again. (sorry again mom) This time it was two guys and they seemed fine, until we found out one of them had just gotten out of jail (not for anything bad, they assured us…hmmm) so we were a bit nervous. Luckily it was only a short distance and we were safely in Göreme quickly.

After that, time for a nap and shower and then off to meet some hometown friends for dinner!

Katie and I were friends from high school and before; we live in the same city but haven’t seen each other in over four years. Amazing that we finally see each other again in Cappadocia, Turkey! Gotta love the power of Facebook. İf i hadn’t posted right before my trip about learning Turkish, we never would have known we were traveling to the same place at the same time!

Anyway we met up with Katie and her traveling companion and headed out. We ended up eating at a place called Kale Restaurant. We each tried their set meals, some of us getting testi kebap and others getting kofte ki-something. In addition they gave us soups and meze plates. We also got a bottle of cappadocian wine, which was actually pretty good! The food tasted great. And it was great to see Katie again. After that, home and to bed. Or at least, I tried…

september 25, 2011
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Today we opted for the “green tour” which is one of the standard tours offered by most cappadocian operators. We usually prefer to do things on our own but wanted to go to a place that was very difficult to do without private transportation. So after breakfast we headed out with a group of about 14 others – interesting cast of characters, including a really annoying stuck up doctor and an interesting Italian couple.

First stop was Derinkuyu, the underground city. This place was really incredible. It’s something like 85 meters deep, with 9 floors excavated so far. The tunnels to get between floors are crazy tiny and it’s amazing imagining people living down there for periods of time.

Next up was Ihlara Valley, which I had been really looking forward to. The scenery did not disappoint, it was truly gorgeous. We hiked about 4km into the valley, to a place called Bellirisima, where we stopped to get lunch. Here we finally had some fish – fresh trout that they get right from the river there that runs through the valley. Both Jose and I were dying for some fish since it’s not common there and we usually eat fish 3-4 times a week.

Next up we piled back in the minivan and headed over to Selime Monastery. This place is located at the end of the valley. On our own we might have liked to hike the whole way there, but as I mentioned before there’s no public transportation home from there. Selime Monastery is huge and pretty incredible.

After that we were getting pretty tired but there was still more to come. We hit up a tourist market and then an onyx maker/jewelry store. These seem like standard types of shopping at the end of a tour. It was cool to see the onyx shaped and polished though, and I didn’t realize there were many colors of onyx either. In between we also visited pigeon valley which is basically an area where they carved holes into the rock for pigeons to roost. They used pigeon poop for fertilizer and also used the pigeons for communication.

The last stop on the tour was a panoramic view of Göreme. This was very pretty but I think all of us were so tired by that point that we just wanted to go home.

That night Jose Luis and I took some walks around Göreme, then actually skipped dinner and went to bed early since we had an early wake-up the next day.

september 24, 2011
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Today after a similar breakfast we set out on a hiking adventure. We hiked back out to where we started our hike to Göreme open air museum and found the trailhead for rose and red valley. We hiked around this area all day up and down on various paths. The scenery was incredible. It was an exhausting hike (and we got lost several times) but totally worth it. We got to the next village around three or four in the afternoon (bypassing the offer of a donkey wagon taxi) and after wandering a bit to find a good place to eat we settled in at the panorama restaurant for some delicious sac tava. While there we found out the next bus wasn’t for another hour. Thankfully a villager told us Turkish people were very friendly and it was easy to hitch a ride. So, we decided to go for it (sorry mom). We ended up getting a ride with Yemeni the shoemaker, which was awesome. He dropped us off outside his shop in Göreme. After that, a mini-siesta and then dinner at another kebap joint whose name we didn’t take note of. I tried ayran, a traditional drink made with yogurt with salt and water I think. I love yogurt but the salt made it taste not so good. Won’t be getting that again. The kebaps were good though. Then soon it was bedtime again.

september 23, 2011
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Today was our first day on our month-long Turkish adventure. First order of business, we had breakfast – we both got “turkish breakfasts”. This consists of slices of bread, cheese, tomato, cucumber, and a fried egg. Also butter and jelly. And the dreaded nescafe. İ drank like six teeny cups . Today we went to the Göreme Open Air Museum. Lots of people, but pretty cool to see all the old churches carved out of the rock. Then we had lunch at Local restaurant (eh) and then went to Nazar Church and spent the rest of the day hiking around out there. My god, the environment in this area is incredible. Totally breathtaking. We wandered through lots of grape and apple orchards and picked fruit. For dinner we went to Cappadocia Kabob Center and had Kebap sandwiches. They were pretty good (Yummy but not enough filling). Also tried the apple tea which was good there (though we discovered quite soon that the “Turkish tea” is way better and what the locals drink morning noon and night. After that, it was time to fall into bed.

Apologies for the lack of updates! We’re into the second week of our trip and our third location. Everything has been amazing so far, we’ve taken tons of photos and need some downtime to go through them to get some up on the Internet. Stay tuned…