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Published: November 2nd 2014
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Preface: I've been wanting to go to Turkey for over a year, and I picked this past vacation to do it. My friend Sloan (a new teacher) and I flew to Turkey for 7 days, starting on October 25th. We spent our first few days in Istanbul and then flew to Cappadocia for 2 days. Then we went back to Istanbul for one more day before coming back to Budapest. Sometimes I've done real entries, sometimes I've done lists. I feel like my trip to Turkey can best be summarized in a series of moments. Make sure you look at the pictures at the bottom of the page too. Pretty psyched about them.
-First of all, our flight attendant on our plane to Istanbul looked just like a young Vladimir Putin
-That time when our plane landed and we didn't know what continent we were on (Asia)
-When the shuttle bus driver started yelling at us in Turkish and gesticulating wildly as he pulled the now-empty van over to the side of a busy street and opened the door, so that Sloan and I could jump out of the still-slightly-moving car
-Going to dinner the first night
and getting appetizers but not being fully sure if it was part of our meal or we should eat it now and how to eat it in general
-Being completely overwhelmed at the Spice Bazaar by the sheer volume of people and things and men yelling at us. Favorites include: "Are you real?!" and "You dropped something...my heart."
-The incredibly humbling experience of walking into the Blue Mosque. A vast space completely covered with intricate language and designs and colors experienced in bare feet and a covered head.
-Sitting at a hookah bar for 4 hours while a kitten slept in my lap, we were served tea after tea, and old Turkish men who we were teaching Rummy 500 to were trying to marry us off to their sons. (Well, one man. One son. Son lives in LA.)
-Walking through a strange doorway in a stone wall only to find ourselves in a shisha den full of smoke and lanterns and people
-Everything about Cappadocia. The way the rocks look like whipped cream and stand in impossible structures.
-Sitting in the hostel around one table with 20 other travelers talking and getting to know
each other and realizing that this is, in fact, the best part about traveling.
-Houses carved into rocks that look like nothing but a window from the outside and become full living spaces if you're brave enough to climb in
-Meeting two travelers on the path by virtue of all of us being lost. Proceeding to spend the next 3 hours with them exploring houses and cliff walls.
-Sitting on a plateau looking over an impossible landscape with two strangers turned friends discussing philosophies, experiences, stories, plans, and the beautiful surroundings.
-Watching a beautiful Turkish family cooking dinner and talking and doing something they really love together. Their smiles were so wide and they were all gorgeous people.
-Waking up at sunrise to watch 100 hot air balloons slowly rise up and completely fill the sky.
-Exploring an underground city and not being able to fathom the fact that not only did 20,000 people live there, but it's 4000 years old.
-Cave raves, songs, quotes, and jokes with new friends. In general, meeting people and feeling like you've known them for a long time already.
-Our tour guide including the South Korean
tour group as part of the tour and talking about South Korea's relationship with Turkey. "And over here, we have a group of South Koreans..."
-Watching three 6'3" Australian men have to crouch through tiny tunnels in narrow caves.
-Hiking through a canyon full of more churches and houses cut through by a creek straight out of a fairy tale
-Spending the last two hours of our time in Cappadocia learning Australian slang words
-Walking through the streets of Istanbul for the last time with a light drizzle and arriving in Taksim square with red flags blowing in the wind.
Turkey was truly an amazing place full of incredibly nice people. If you ever get the chance to go, Cappadocia is not to be missed.
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