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Published: June 27th 2009
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Cappadocia Hotel
Outside of hotel room cut into the hill like a cave. End of Day 16
We finally arrived in Kayseri around 4PM and had a 1 hour drive to Cappadocia and our hotel. We were a bit worried when we saw the outside of the hotel, but upon entering the room we were pleasantly surprised. The hotel is built into the side of the hills in caves. The room has arched ceilings of stone and the bathroom is about the size of the bedroom with an open shower. Chester can finally shave her legs without any complaints. As our shuttle pick-up in Izmir was an hour late they tried to make up for it by giving us a night out with traditional Turkish dance and food. So who are we to turn down a free night of fun. It would be insulting right? So after a bit of a rest and quick shower off we went to another experience. We were with a bigger group that had been together on a tour that day, but we ended up with one of the girls from our tour in Istanbul. The entire restaurant was in a cave with many rooms. We were first seated in a large room with some benches carved out.
Cave Hotel Room
Hotel room cut into the hill. The lights were dimmed and the black lights turned on. Then entered the Whirling Dervishes. These are traditional Turkish dancers that twirl as a religious belief. They believe that if they spin they will be closer to God. We do have to say it was a bit slow and we were a bit disappointed because we thought they would pick up the pace but no luck. But it was still pretty cool to see. We were then escorted to another cave in the building where we sat at long block tables and benches. Here we enjoyed the prime entertainment and our meal. At this point we found out it was all you can eat and DRINK. Had we known this we would not have scheduled a sunrise hot air balloon ride for the next morning.
Unfortunately our seats were a bit in the corner so most of our view was of the back side of the dancers. When watching some of the male dancers this was not a bad thing, but we did miss out on some of the front view of the dances. Through the various courses of dinner which were really good, the male and female dancers
The Ultimate Bathroom
Almost bigger than the bedroom continued to perform traditional Turkish dances. No Turkish night is complete without belly dancers. She was quite good and could make parts of her body moves in mysterious ways. She called up various men from the audience to try and teach them to belly dance. As none of these men were under 50, it was quite amusing.
Of course with any good tourist attraction when we left there were pictures taken during the evening on display. We, of course, assumed these were for sale and took a quick look and moved on. But Chester stood there a few more minutes and based on the actions of others taking the pictures and walking out assumed they were free. She ran out to tell Kirsten and Kirsten not wanting to turn down anything free said sure go get them. So waiting outside the bus, Kirsten is talking to another lady who “bought” her pictures for 7 Euro each. At this time Chester comes walking up with a hand full of pictures. Since they were “free” why not take all the pictures that we are in including 3 group shots from the table. At this point we decided we should probably just
Whirling Dervishes
All they did was spin. Couldn't even see up their skirts. head directly to the van and wait for the others. The British lady Kirsten had been talking to looked a bit put off by this, but as Chester explained everyone was taking them. In reality she was just jealous she paid for her one picture and we got 6 of them for free. We did share in our generosity and handed out some of the group photos to others.
Finally by midnight we were home and set the alarm to wake up in 4 short hours.
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