Kapadokya

Hands down, the BEST weekend ever! Mid-September was bayram, the end of Ramazan and in addition to the weekend, another two days off from work. Seven other girls and myself ventured to Kapadokya, about a 5 hour bus ride the the SW of Ankara.

We left Saturday morning, the 19th, and arrived in the afternoon. The rock formations and landscape are absolutely beautiful!; it reminded me so much of the badlands in W USA, but obviously with it's own unique flare. On our tours we received tons of info about the history and formation of the land, but naturally I was distracted during most of it. Please search it on-line if you're interested. I don't have any pictures posted yet to neither Flickr nor Facebook, but you can blame that on my friend Val....I don't have the patience to carry a camera around and incessantly take photos, but she's and angel and photographed nearly every second of our 4-day adventure. I'm working on stealing them from her ASAP.

Saturday evening we, the whole group of us, went horseback riding during the sunset. Somehow it sounds more impressive than it was. Lots of fun, but the sunset wasn't at all phenomenol and the scenery took the cake! Turkey's landscape was one of the biggest surprises for me. I couldn't tell you exactly what I was expecting, if I expected anything at all, but despite the fact that it is the desert, it's never boring. We went riding through the hills and the panoramic (a word I now find deplorable after it's extreme overuse in Kap.) view is mesmerizing. Moutains in the background with the quintiscential white halo toward the peak, the swirling colors in the hills - really just gorgeous! Sidenote: our guide was also incredibly adorable and his English not bad.

That night, two of the girls - Maggie and Val - and I went to a whirling dervishes performance. It was entertaining, although definitely geared toward tourists. As Maggie loved to say, it was absolutely gluttonous and we enjoyed every second of it. The best part of, however, was the company and acquiantances we made along the way. Throughout the weekend we met a bunch of people staying at our hostel - Kiwis, a Canadian-Iranian, a Canadian couple studing in Istanbul, a fellow English teacher living in Thailand, and Austrailian ex-pat living in London - and, as I like to say, they were a hoot! It was really fun hanging out with them over the weekend. The next morning, the girls and I signed up for a day-long tour that would show us some of the most popular sites in Kap, i.e. underground city, a monastery, etc. etc. also with a little hiking along the way, and laughing at other peoples stupid jokes or watching them nearly break their necks climbing down a mountain was the best part of it all!

Monday, a large group of us attempted to do our own guideless hiking tour and again, it was another chilly, but fantastic day. Our first stop was to be an old castle and we managed to find ourselves at a dead end within an hour. Somehow, the little sheep we are, were found by a random Turkish man who led us through the hills and up to the castle with varied jumping photos along the way* (this will be coming soon...get ready to be jealous!) and of course, not without expecting some kind of monetary compensation that turned an amazingly nice gesture into a rather souring exploitation. Yet, the day continued with good drinks, good food, and a relaxing evening!

Best part of the entire trip? Us attempting to conserve time, be adventurous, and trek off the beaten path. Borderline disastrous, but highly amusing in retrospect. Somehow, with all of our intellect combined, we decided to fling ourselves down a massive, slippery hillside, expecting it to be one or two easy hops to the flatland....sorely mistaken we were! I had purple pants on - yes purple pants - and they were white with dust and debris after we skidded down several different slopes, all of which misled us to think they brought us nearer and nearer or goal while in reality they merely led us to one unforeseen plateau to another with the added complexity of attempting to navigate prickly bushes and myterious holes in hopes of reaching the next illusive plateau. Not to mention all the smart choices I made in regard to my over-sized, ridiculously inappropriate bag I had with me...minor mistakes = good times.

The next we - or I mostly? - did our tourist thing, i.e. postcards, cheesy souvenirs, and bused back to Ankara in the afternoon. We were exhausted, but sad to leave and makes me highly optimistic for our next holiday and adventure in Turkey! Where shall we find ourselves next??