Istanbul and Capadocıa

Turkey is pretty awesome. I dont think I have ever met a friendlier group of people. They are so welcoming and its pretty hard to get use to. I am use to thinking people are trying to rip me off all the time...but many of the people I met here just want to talk to you and have a tea.

Istanbul was cool...but not as exotic or cheap as I thought it would be. Maybe that is because I spent most of my time in the touristy area. I spent most of the days just exploring the bazzar and talking to the guys running the hostel. People here make their tea in two seperate tea pots....one water and one tea...and I probably drink about 10 cups a day. And I am a new fan of eggplant. It is in almost everything they cook...and now I love it. And pomegranates...evertyone else manages to eat them without getting it all over...i am still refining that skill.

Capadocia was wonderful. I took a night bus there from Istanbul....and me and this English guy had the whole back half of the bus to ourselves, so that was pretty nice. I ended up in this hostel where you sleep in one of the caves....it was a little cold and a little damp...but an experience for sure. I spent two days hiking around there and it was beautiful. There are tons of different valleys to explore and every turn there are more caves and crazy rock formations. I cant say enough good things about it. I spent another day on a tour and got to go to this underground city that was built during the 7th century BC...and later Christians made them bigger and hid from the Romans. There is so much history here!

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