Blogs from Central Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 5

After the balloon flight it was a quick breakfast and pack back at Walnut House and onto the bus for our trip to Konya,( 3 hours) we had broken the journey at Konya so as not to be doing too long a bus trips in one day. The Otogar at Konya is a reasonable distance out of town but there is a tram service to the city centre so that made it easier, but still can be difficult to know what stop to get off etc. Konya is said to be one of the most conservative Muslim cities in Turkey and I had read that most worman would be fully scarved, this didnt appear to be the case. After getting off the tram at what seemed to be the right place we stopped to read the ... read more

Today was a day of making bus connections. To get to Goreme we had to travel via Kayseri a six hour trip 35 Turkish Lira each, about 21 NZ dollars then a connection to Goreme that took about an hour. Arrived in at about 6.30 pm and picked the closest accommodtion, Walnut House, it turned out to be a good choice Only just off the square where all the transport is and also close to the Hot Air Balloon companies The staff at Walnut House were very helpful, our room was a deluxe room ( NZ $45 )and even though it wasn't in a cave as some are in Goreme, the walls were made of carved local stone. The room hade a huge bed and the floor was covered in Turkish carpets and cushions. Filled in ... read more

Sunday 18th Sept - Ankara to Goreme, Cappadocia After breakfast and thanks & farewell to our hosts, we caught a taxi to the nearest metro station and caught a metro that took us to the bus station. Naively, we arrived at the bus station at 5 minutes before 11 thinking we would be able to get tickets on the 11am bus out of Ankara to Cappadocia. It's Sunday morning and as soon as I saw the amount of people crowding the bus terminal I realized that we were pretty stupid thinking we would get a on the bus we wanted without having pre-purchased tickets. There were just 2 different bus companies that were going directly to Goreme, but of course now it was just minutes, even seconds, before 11 and I was not surprised when both ... read more

Ok, so Goreme is totally wacky. I hope you can get a feeling for this by perusing the photos that I have attached. And this is completely a good wacky. What an awesome place. I had seen some photos of the rock formations around here before I came, but there is no substitute for the real thing. They are crazy. Honestly I feel like I am walking through a Dr. Seuss book or something like this. As the minibus rides into Goreme (I had to switch from a bus to a minibus in Nevsehir) you wind between some rock structures that are illuminated with artificial lighting. A nice entrée into the sights of Goreme. I arrived late at night (11:30pm) but was able to make it to my pension with the help of some friendly locals. ... read more

I'm not a big fan of Ankara so this is going to be a quick post. Well, I suppose it is not entirely Ankara's fault. As soon as I dropped off my visa application I went back to my hotel, and pretty much immediately I felt sick, and I was hit with a strong bout of the runs. I felt really terrible and I quickly came down with shivers and a fever as well. I popped a loperamide and climbed into bed in the hopes of feeling better. My guess is the food in Erzurum bus station did it, but it might have just been a flare up from my first being sick in Istanbul. Even after when I woke up I still felt pretty nauseous. I tried to eat some yogurt and drank some Fanta, ... read more