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Published: October 27th 2010
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Day 3 28th September 2010
Today we set off from Urgup where we saw all the limestone chimneys, which were stuuning to say the least, and went on for miles. On our departure at 9am it was already in the 20's centigrade and we built up more heat with the steady climb out of town for several miles. A left turn at Mustafa Paxa shortly after passing a donkey pulling an old wizened man on a four wheel cart took us up onto the plateau where there was signs of recent ploughing of the wheat stubble on the vast flatlands. Occasionally we would see fields with pumpkins scattered like giant yellow ballons awaiting harvesting. Later in the morning we stopped at a village to ask a lady if there was anywhere selling chai (tea) for our break but were told that there was nowhere, but she would make some for us. We were invited onto her rooftop and she came out with chai, grapes and cheese for all ten of us and would not take any money for it. This is unbelievable since these people eek out a very frugal existance and live in very basic housing with little or no
modern gadjets, except for satellite TV, which most houses had. We saw her family boiling grape juice over a wood fire for a syrup they make to cover their yoghurt etc. Lunch was at a small village in a steep valley followed by a very steep climb of 15 to 20%, which saw many grunting and/or walking, onto the next plateau. In the middle of nowhere we saw a mirage in the distance which eventually became real and turned out to be a small roadside stall selling strawberries. I never found the stall selling cream. Later on I caught up with Debbie who had a puncture. After a quick tube change she was on her way again and descending into Derinkuyu. On our left on the hillside we saw a huge camp site, which we presumed was itinerant, immigrant field workers. It reminded me of those films of Ghengis Khan and his army on the march conquering such lands as this. Our hotel for the night was comfortable and clean but we had only one toilet and shower for 5 rooms, which was a bit of a problem resulting in a queue of scantily clad people reading books under a
motion detecting light which kept going out until we flapped our arms about. I went outside to sit on one of the tables, where everyone in Turkey meets to drink chai, when a local came up to me talking in Turkish and with a bit of semaphore we understood each other. We are finding them very nice people and very helpful. This man bought my chai and would not let me pay for his. Me The hotel served a nice meal, after which we went to the supermarket across the road and bought our provisions for the next day for very little money.
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