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Turkey it was this December. It was cold and freezing but that didnt diminish the beauty of the sprawling country that it is. We decided to start driving in the cappadocia region right upto Izmir on the western coast. We screwed up in our planning and that was evident when we flew into Kayseri and paid a hefty sum to our taxi driver get to our hotel!!!! Given that we were renting a car, we should have done it at the airport and driven up, well that was learning on day 1. We spent our time driving around the small roads and towns and afcourse hit some of the spots our book told us to. We went to Derinkyu (excuse my spellos, they are bound to be bad!!), an underground city and thank god it was winter, for those of you who hate crowds and want to do places I recomemend the butt freezing cold season!!!! Afcourse the ubiquitous chinese tourists landed up in bus loads and clicked away!!!!!!
Goreme, Zelve and the marvellous cappadocian landscapes were great, loved every bit of it. Did any of try buying the lovely pottery on the way to Zelve, well I fell for
it and got a few pieces. I have to say the men selling the pottery are as charming!! We drove on t Ilhara Valley, a gorge with lovely churches. It was beautiful as many other parts of the land. People are amazingly friendly - always trying to help even if they don't understand the English. I am from India and parts of it felt very much like home!!!!! Oh yes, we Indian's are very hospitable!!! Before we move on central turkey, i must mention this restaurant we went to in Kayseri, for some reason my memory fails me and I can't remember the name, but it is right next to the cappadocian winery. Fantastic food - the cheese platter is a must have. God that was divine😊
We drove up to Konya, a forgetable city except for the Mevlana museum which was interetsing. But what I loved was our experience in the mosque next to the Mevlana musuem. We went in and the Imam welcomed us like his own brethren and we tried to communicate in languages unknown to us!!! He let us take pictures (yes all mosques are pciture worthy, they are all beautiful) and presented me with
a prayer bead that I may never use but cherish for the experience. Konya to Pamukkale and the roman ruins at Hierapolis. Afcourse the natural formations at Pamukkale made the enitre trip just so worth it. I will post some pictures, not the best photography but just shots that complement my memory!!
Trip is coming to an end, we are heading to the west coast towards Efes and Izmir. Efes was wonderful, We met this Indian couple there who shared their tourist guide with us as the audio tours were not available. It was great listening to the tourist guide version of the Efes story. And on to Izmir, the largest town we probably went to in 10 days!!! Well, Izmire didnt much for us except one of our favourite memories -we got lost and could not find our hotel and after 2 hours of driving around we decided to ask for help. I know this sounds stupid especially with gas prices being what they are!!! But when I called the hotel a couple of times language was a problem and we couldn't really have a full conversation!!! Anyway we stopped by on a road where saw a policeman
who tried waving us away for stopping on the road but when we explained our crisis (yeah after 2 hours it felt that way) he attempted telling us how to get to the hotel. It seemed close enough but given his limited knowledge of English and our inability to talk Turkish, he put on his lights and asked us to follow his car. And there we were being escorted if you will. he led us all the way to the hotel which was just a street away but he could not explain the one way concept to us!!!! But he is the nicest policeman I have met till date! I recommend the simple sandwiches and turkish coffee on the riverside, turkish cheese and bread is exotic. I vote for it.
Istanbul was the last stop and I refuse to get into the wonders of Hagia sophia and all of it. They were great but here are my anecdotes from Istanbul - Spice bazaar - In the sweet stalls, look out for the Turkish Viagra and you get a choice of "5 times a night" or "7 times a night"!!!! Wonder what that means😊). We were there on New years
eve and given the current global threat of perennially remain on "orange" level of security, the city was dead. So we landed up in a bar where we got to see a girl do the belly dance for her boyfriend, thats what I call cool. I don't think the professionals (the ones we pay hideous amounts for) would hold a candle to her. She was fantastic. That helped me pushed down some bad beer!!!
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