Turkey - Day 6 - Goreme

From Cappadocai

Jamie and I do almost all of the planning for traveling by ourselves.  We stay in hostels, ride public transportation, do very little tours, and eat in local places.  There have been very few times where we have been lost or completely clueless as to what to do next.  Many people pay extra for someone else to book everything for them, but that is just not our style.  It’ll obviously change when we have kids, but for now, we enjoy the way we travel.

With that said, we struggled today.  After catching a ride to the train station, catching a 50 minute train to the Izmir airport, a 70 minute flight to Kayseri, we found ourselves with no idea as to how to get to Goreme, our next destination.  We asked for the bus station only to be pointed to a bus stop.  We headed over there and attempted to ask a few people for the bus to Goreme, but with no luck.  Istanbul and Selchuk had many people who spoke English, but this town did not.  We finally found a young college student who spoke English and he directed us on 2 busses that led us through the city of Kayseri.  We departed from him with the instructions to stay on the bus til the end, then find the bus to Goreme.

We only found 3 nice men who eagerly wanted to help us but spoke almost no English.  The invited us in for tea, asked if we wanted food, and tried very desperately to tell us how to get to Goreme.  We think they wanted us to wait until the bus at 5:00.  Since it was already 2:00 and we had wasted half of the day riding the bus around the city, we really didn’t want to spend another 3 hours waiting.  We finally suggested a taxi, but they really didn’t want us to do that.  I believe they knew our frustration, so they led us to a bus, who after 5 minutes, told us to get off and pointed to some taxis. 

Relieved, we climbed in.  Unfortunately, the taxi fare was astronomical.  In fact, the taxi ride from Kayseri to Goreme was more than our flight half way across the country.  This was one of those times where we truly didn’t know what to do and our lack of planning really costs us. 

We made it to our hostel, which is called the Nomad Cave Hotel. The Cappadochia region of Turkey is famous for its odd landscape.  Our hotel is literally carved into the side of a rock face.  Our room is dug out of a cave.  See the pictures.

Since we arrived late and it was raining, all we had time for today was for the Open Air Museum, which used to be a monastery and nunnery.  Like other structures around here, it too is a series of houses, chapels, and churches that have been carved out of the mountain.  Again, check out the pictures because it is difficult for me to describe the landscape.

Tomorrow, we will arise early for a hot air balloon over the area.  Very pricey but it is apparently the “thing” to do here.  We’ll then take a tour of some of the surrounding areas including an underground city.  Check back tomorrow for an update and I’m sure what will be TONS of pictures.