Cappadocia and home

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Having been in Istanbul for a week, we needed a break. It wasn't a break from Istanbul that we needed so much as a break from cities in general. So we marched down to the travel agency near our hotel and told him to send us away. Where to? Cappadocia. He had a two day tour with a night in a cave hotel he could offer, so we figured we might as well. The only hang-up was that for what we were wanting to pay, he could only do bus tickets instead of a flight. Julie and I both hated the idea of 12 hour overnight bus rides, but thriftiness prevailed, and we accepted.

Actually, the bus ride was much better than we expected, and we both slept a fair amount. When we got to Urgup, we were expecting a mini-bus to take us to the hotel. Unfortunately, the trvael company sent a small car for the five of us waiting for our transfer. The driver said everything was ok though, and told us to cram in. Easy for him to say. I truly felt like a fat American cramming in there. When we arrived at the hotel, the owner offered us breakfast as the other guests were eating already. We assumed it to be complimentary given that we hadn't even checked in yet, and he was really nice about it, yet he slapped an extra 8 lira charge on our bill when we left. Wasn't very good anyway.

As amazing as the caves, rock churches, and underground cities were, I don't think it would have been the same without our group. When planning this trip, we wanted to be as independent as possible. We couldn't stand the idea of being on someone else's timetable, or being told it's time to leave a place before we're ready to leave it. Honestly, it couldn't have been much better though. To watch us march through the wilds of Cappadocia, it was hard not to imagine us as a really bad knockoff of the fellowship from LotR. We had a japanese guy, a few koreans, a Malaysian couple, a Singaporean girl, and us Americans. There was actually another American couple, but seeing as they weren't all that nice, we didn't talk to them much. Everyone else was not only kind, but well-spoken and interesting. We even ended up having dinner with a few of them back in Nevsehir before we parted ways for our next destinations. They were going on to Cannakale, while we were on our way back to Istanbul.

With only a couple of days left in Istanbul, we were finally beat. The bus ride back from Nevsehir had done us in, and we gave in to exhaustion. The last two days were spent mainly in Sultanahmet and mostly in our hotel room. I didn't like the idea of "wasting" days, but travelling can be tiresome. We did take some time to go walk along part of the walls of Constantinople. That was pretty special for me, as I'd often wondered what it would have looked like from outside those walls. Most of it was pretty trashed, but we got to see where the Turks had rebuilt certain sections. Mehmet also treated us to dinner before we left. He'd been the nicest person we'd met in a month of travel, and it was fitting that we ended our trip with him.

All said, it was a fantastic experience for us. While it wasn't the first time either one of us had been out of the country, it was the first time we'd really been immersed in settings so radically different from our own. There were definitely downs, though we were encouraged by the fact that we never got jaded or too angry when things went wrong or got difficult. And the ups made up for anything that did go wrong. More than anything, it has helped us appreciate going home. For those who have that travel itch, home is often the last place you want to be. For us, that's usually the case. We're always talking about wherever else we'd rather be. Honestly though, being out has helped to see that being home can be enjoyable too. Until we get the itch again, that is.

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Photos

frozen streams
Central Anatolia gets quite chilly during the winter

Comments

[matthew26]

i really love those unique architecture of those places.i wish I could go there and check it out myself.