Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Cappadon't Ya Know

    The weekend, oh the weekend. As the Turkish salesman would say, "My friend",  I had a pretty good weekend. Now, focus on that statement for a moment. 'Pretty good' -I say this because the weekend wasn't phenomenal, I didn't have such a blast my pants came off, and I certainly wouldn't have ranked it as exceeded my expectations. However, I will say that it was pretty good. Beginning the long bus ride I was in a salted mood; the result of an earlier introspective temperament; begun with over-waiting a rendezvous of a friend and myself.
    On the bus to Cappadocia, I felt decently after some hours had passed and a bottle and a half of cheap red wine had also. The strategy of over indulgence at the beginning of the bus ride has good logic behind it: it's a 12 hour bus ride and only the purest of souls could sleep that long crammed in a bus full of fifty people without being drunk. So you can assume I'd made my rounds of the bus and also satisfied myself with conversation before taking to sleep in my seat. I awoke to beautiful scenery and the promise of Cappadocia being near.


Side note: Some of Star Wars was filmed in Cappadocia (Tattooine) and the landscape much resembles that of an alien planet. 




    Something travel typically does is give one's self an honest look inward. For me, looking in the spiritual mirror on this trip was poorly timed. I typically have moments of introversion where I cannot for the life of me be social and this being the case on a weekend trip with about fifty international students was terrible timing. Lucky for you: I had a camera and was able to capture some interesting shots that would be typical of an observer and thinker. Other contributions to this mood of mine were the awful weather which bore little sun light and left us very cold (of course I didn't bring a coat); the fact that I only brought one pair of pants (minor upset); and the circumstance that I was having internal conflict over the earlier stated friendship because of their recurring tardiness. This sum of minor instances topped off with a chilly body and shit-wine hangover left me feeling a bit introspective. Enjoy the photos.



 Erasmus Exchange students looking happy as they experience the trip together.
 Alien planet.
 Me trying to look happy.





    This is the famous Uchisar castle where purportedly hundreds of people lived together. The climb to the top was exciting and I scared myself half to death when I attempted a hop onto a sitting ledge to find a hundred foot drop on the other side...I found a different ledge.

Nice view

American friend Kubilay

German friend Mona

    Across from this castle there was a nice little antique shop where I chose pictures over paying for items and the photo of this dog reminded me of my Nana's affection for Cocker Spaniels (although I'm not sure if the dog was of the breed or not) and this I've decided is also the best photo of the trip.









   As we were rushed from destination to destination with calls of "only one hour before you must be back" I remembered why traveling with a large group can be awful. The next day however would be my glass of tonic. The famed Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon ride. Taking off as the sun rises it's touted as a once in a life time experience and really the true reason why I paid a good deal of money to come on this trip. In the nature of the trip though, after waking up at 4:30am to catch a late bus at that was supposed to arrive at 5:30 and finally making it to Universal Balloon and waiting until 7am we discovered the weather was too poor to fly and the government wouldn't give us clearance to go. Yes, we'd get a refund but this REALLY made me sour. I could feel the weather grow colder against my skin.

So after this disappointment I went home to catch two hours of sleep before breakfast and a full day of site seeing and hiking through different valleys with cool names like Rose Valley and Imagination Valley. Also I got this cool cat of Kubilay holding a cat (thumbs way up).


Imagination Valley

This one I imagine to be a man looking over at those twin peaks and thinking, "those look like a pair of..."

 Our friend Omer



My German friend Roland who is typically talkative and in a good mood.
Sometimes I just have to let it go.
An ancient ladder




    After all of this timed hiking my mood was beginning to brighten and the evening would introduce me to Turkish night which entailed Dervish dancers, Turkish folk dancers, Belly dancers, a huge conga line and a woman on a horse indoors. Also, an open bar of wine and Raki. Please forgive the poor cell phone quality photos.






And our last moments spent at this wonderful Valley.

 Gizem flying high
 Gizem, Tarig, Omer, and Areh

 Italian friend Pietro



 Trip leaders and Turkish friends: Asude and Gizem
 Omer and Hannes
 Quiet spanish friend Diana
 Christian church I was allowed to take photos of.



Notice, I had to pay 1 Lira to use the restroom; this is typical in Turkey.


The trip ended up pretty good as I stated. I really recommend anyone to travel to this area and experience all that is offered. Signing out. Take care and thanks for reading. 










1 comment:

  1. Really cool formations. Reminds me of the Lord of the Rings. Keep em comin!

    ReplyDelete