Blogs from Central Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 37

We left Osmaniye after exchanging gifts with our hosts there. I had almost enough gear to put together a full Turkish police uniform. The ride to Cappadoccia was much less strenuous than the previous day's one. The secondary highway we rode on took us through plains from which we could see some stunning snow capped mountain ranges and through a succession of villages that still looked like they would have 80-100 years ago, except for the cars. In one of these villages, a farmer was leading 3 cows across the town centre and had to take evasive action with the herd to get out of our way. We also past countless herds of sheep in the fields being tended to by shepherds. The ride was relaxing, a welcomed change for Erin. We rode over a hill ... read more

Mark and I have been in Turkey now for a few days. After a bit of a long flight through London we arrived in the capital late in the evening and got right into right away by trying to figure out how to take a bus from the airport rather than getting a taxi the whole (expensive) way. And then after a group of old men discussed how best to get us to our hotel a taxi took us off and we ended up staying in a great old Ottoman mansion. Ankara was enjoyable and we finished it off with a crazy drive out of the city in our rental car. Mark rose to the challenge and drove like a Turk to navigate those streets. We are now in the center of the country, in Cappadocia. ... read more

27-4-08 We arrived at about 8 in the morning and found ourselves some accommodation. We ended out at a pretty cool hostel, which was carved into the rocks. The breakfast they served in the morning was also the best breakfast I had in my travels. Ahhhh menemen. We decided that day we would just go for a walk. After some walking, and a ride in the back of a truck, we ended out at some great caves. Here we embraced our inner Indiana Jones and spent hours exploring the churches and homes carved into the rocks. That night we decided to go to the Turkish Nights dinner. This incorporated a lot of traditional dances, including James getting some lessons from a belly dancer. Funny Stuff. We then headed out to Flintstones cave bar, where a “Best ... read more

Well, goodbye Syria and hello Turkey! Not quite that smooth of course, border crossings in the Middle East never are. Turkey has started enforcing a law that says foreign registered vehicles older than 30 years old are not allowed into the country. Our Frosty (our overland truck - appropriate name for the desert I know) is over thirty and so that made life interesting. A coach and drivers had been arranged for us to swap into at the border, but the day before crossing we learned that the driver didn't have a Syrian visa. Hmmm. So at the border we had to unload the truck of all the camping and cooking gear as well as ourselves and our packs, transfer into taxis to cross the border, unload and reload the coach on the Turkish side. A ... read more

Mikkel and I set our alarm for 10, but when it went off it still felt way too early. We laid in our beds and talked for a little bit before Mikkel decided it was probably time to get up. He got out of bed and went to see where everyone else was. He found them all fast asleep on the couch or floor of the living room. He woke Berk up, who then woke up all the others. They were in there talking for a little while, and then Mikkel came back in and told me that if I wanted a shower, I should probably start getting ready now. I went and got ready, and put on my sunscreen this time so that my face wouldn’t get any redder and was ready to go. We ... read more