Cappadoccia

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5/27-5/29

We arrived in the village of Grohme via an overnight bus ride that turned out to take 12 hours. The buses are very interesting here, they have a bus attendent that serves snacks and beverages and the bus stops at least every four hours at a rest stop where people can use the rest room and chain smoke. Apparently 4am Coca-cola breaks are the norm amongst the Turks. Also of note is the interesting "rest stations". A bit behind the times it seems rather than traditional toilets turkish bus stations have these porcelain holes in the ground. Complete wıth toilet paper and cleaning brush. I wound up holding it for the 12 hours. I wish I took a picture.

Anyway, the region is known for these caves built out of mountains formed by a volcanic eruption. So we stayed in one of the hotels that looks like a cave but I am pretty sure isn't one that formed naturally. The hotel owner welcomed us to join him for breakfast and it led to the most interesting debate on America and politics thus far. He understood that not all Americans supported Bush but I will leave out some of the more colorful things he had to say about him. He did suggest that we try to elect Hilary Clinton the next time around.

The next day we got up at 4:30am and took a hot air balloon ride above the mountains. It was indescribable. However, Andrew took about 100 pictures during the hour long flight so we have a flip book show if anyone is interested. We took some tours of North and South Cappadoccia the next few days and met some amazing travelers. There were people from 20-70 years old all having great conversation. We took a hike though the mountains and climbed through a 4 (originally 8) level underground cave that housed 5000+ people, with an early air conditioning/heating/plumbing system, proving that early man was anything but primative. During all these trips to the caves Andrew hit his head no less than 10 times and I am starting to worry about him (although his natural brilliance seems unaffected).

One other highlight was Andrew electing to have a Traditional Turkish bath. Hmmm. I wıll be honest - it was a bit odd to be bathed by two other men - even ıf we were all wearıng turkısh versions of kilts. Glad to say I tried it- but I think I will pass going forward.

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Photos

Balloons
A few other people had the same idea...

In the caves
Jaime, clearly a decendent of the ancient shortcavepeeps.