Nemrut Dağ

Perhaps I have a thing for big heads.  I have seen big stone heads in four countries now, on three continents. I have visited many places in Turkey in the last two years (enough to make some of my colleagues ashamed of themselves for not having traveled as much in much more time) and the last place I really wanted to visit was Nemrut Dağ (Nemrut Mountain).  None of my regular tour groups seemed likely to take me there, so I took the matter into my own hands and orgainzed a trip for myself.  I emailed everyone I thought might be interested, set a date and made the plans.  In the end there were three of us who traveled to Nemrut last weekend to see the big heads.

The history of the site is pretty interesting.  There was a megolomaniac for a king in the region and he was trying to legitimize his rule by saying that he was related to the gods.  Since it was a religiously diverse area he had to be related to both Greek and Persian gods, which would make for quite a family reunion if they could ever agree on a date.  You can read more about it here.  I mostly thought they were cool looking.

Nemrut is not easy to get to.  There are three 'close' airports, but all then require a significant drive as well.  We toyed with the idea of taking a tour, but then the timing is out of our hands and I really like the flexibility of driving.  We thought about going from the closest airport, but I have heard that the roads could be bad coming from the north side of the mountain.  In the end we decided to fly into and out of Gaziantep, about a 4.5 hour drive from Nemrut.  The flight times to and from istanbul worked out well and Gaziantep is a neat city to see again.

Lizzy, Erin and I started the adventure by getting a taxi to the airport at 6am on Saturday morning.  Lizzy did amazingly well considering she woke up at 6:04.  At that time of day, traffic is a breeze and we were to the airport, checked in, through security and sitting down to breakfast by 6:40.  The flight was uneventful and I got a long way into "The Silver Linings Playbook" on the plane.

This poor fish looks so sad.

We picked up our rental car after we landed and set up the GPS and headed out.  Our first stop was the moasics museum, which Erin and I had been to before, but it was well worth visiting again and Lizzy hadn't seen it.  We all have muze cards, so it didn't cost anything.  New to me this time was a projector that showed a mosaic at the bottom of a pond with fish in it and leaves on the surface.  It was interactive and if you walked over the projection, the fish and leaves would scatter.  More and more leaves would accumulate if it was left undisturbed for long times.  It was really cool.

It was over cast and drizzly when we landed and when we came out of the museum.  The rain didn't start in earnest until we were in the restaurant.  Erin had some recommendations from last time she was in Gaziantep (3 weeks ago) and lead us to Imam Cagdas restaurant for kebabs  which was was excellent (and had a parking garage attached).     There were other American's in the restaurant including a guy with a San Francisco Giant's cap.  I was tempted to talk with him and eventually got the chance.  He was part of a large tour group who were all sitting at different tables.  There were two couples sitting at a table kitty corner from us who for some reason caught the attention of the upper elementary/middle school age field trip students who came in a few minutes after us (I am pretty sure they followed us from the museum).  The woman in particular (Sandy) was approached over and over again to have her picture taken with the kids.  She was not a particularly interesting looking person. She was medium height, slender, white, early 60s, normal looking American, but all the kids wanted their picture taken with her.  We couldn't figure it out.  She didn't look like any movie star we could think of and none of the others at the table had nearly as much attention.  I would have thought the Asian couple from San Francisco would have been more interesting, and they did get one or two pictures, but nothing like the attention the midwesterners did.  We remarked on this to the couple near by and they had nothing to help explain it, nor did the 'famous' lady when she finally extricated herself from her adoring fans.  We did talk to her and her husband, Alan, for a little to hear about what they were doing and to tell what we were up to.  Alan wanted to know what people in Turkey think about the Syrian situation and we said that we hear more about the Turkish government than what is going on in Syria and so weren't really very helpful.

So much rain, so fast that the roads were flooding.

Leaving the restaurant we wanted to head out to the mountain.  Google maps had said it would take 4.5 hours and we wanted to get there in plenty of time to get to the hotel and then head up to the summit.  At one point while we were eating the rain was so loud, I am sure it must have contained some hail and it was still raining hard when we left.  Driving in the city, this wasn't such a bad thing, but some streets were beginning to flood and we saw people out clearing drains and covering wears that were under overhangs.

We made it out of town with minimal trouble and followed the GPS into the country side.  At one point it suggested that we get off the main road and on to another road suspiciously labeled "road."  This should have been a clue, but so many of the roads in Turkey are poorly labeled, seemingly unnamed and certainly difficult to identify, that we weren't alarmed.  At some point a little later we turned off of "road" and on to "unpaved road" and we were definitely worried by then, but we were so close (as the crow flies) that we pressed on.  The scenery we passed on this route was amazing and beautiful.

The trees seem to grow directly out of the rock, and we couldn't figure out why the top of the rock is black, where underneath it is red/orange.

A lone shade tree in the middle of the wheat field.

 Several times we passed shepherds and their flocks, usually sheep or cows, but always a couple of goats as well.  We waited as they crossed the road or passed us, the shepherd usually waving to us. A couple of times we asked if we were on the right road to Karadut.  They were always happy to help and with a smile confirmed that we were in fact only 10km away.  It was odd that we were always 10km away regardless of how far we had traveled since the last time we were 10km away.

One of the shepherds we met along the way. (Photo credit: Lizzy Washburn)

 The road we were on varied from paved to partially paved (giant chunks of asphalt missing) to gravel to mud.  Parts of it were very nice.

This picture is reminiscent of a picture I took on my very first road trip with Kate to Alaska.

An ancient castle on the rock.  We were behind schedule so didn't try to climb up to it.  

 It was right after this castle that we found Nemrut national park.  The GPS was telling us to go in, but we wanted to go around.  It is unclear from talking to the gate keepers if we can get through the park to Karadut on the other side, but to go in, we would definitely have to pay the 9TL entrance fee.  He explains how we can go around the park, if we just turn left and then left again and he gives us a card for a restaurant that has a mini map on the back.  We thank him and head off again, making the first left at the bottom of the road with the entrance.  We are not sure how far to the second left, but then see a sign (not hand written, but in pretty bad repair) that points left and says Karadut.  Ok, we are feeling good.  That is until we go through a couple of almost abandoned towns and the road starts getting worse.  We are almost nostalgic for the 'unpaved road' that the GPS sent us on, since now we are on no road at all and are breaking new ground as far as the GPS is concerned.  Again we pass shepherds who encourage us to keep going, so we do.  Erin does a fantastic job of keeping us on the road and not sliding down the hill and into oblivion.  At one point she does check that we have our seat belts on and at another point she says we are definitely not coming back this way.  Those turned out to be ironic, since we hadn't gone 10 more minutes before we met this scene:

It is a good thing (for us) that these guys were stuck.  They stopped us from going any farther where we would have encountered:

Notice that half the road has slid down the hill. The town you can see in the middle distance... that's Karadut.  We were so close, we could have walked (as was suggested by the driver of the stuck van.)

We (and by we, I mean Erin) chatted with the guy, whose van was full of children and shoes about our options.  We offered to help them get unstuck (an offer they declined) before we (and again, by we, I mean Erin) turned the car around and we found ourselves on the very patch of road which she never wanted to go on again.  Looking at the GPS we found another way around, we had been paralleling a road marked in yellow (indicating that it was a main road and which I named the yellow brick road as something we really should be following to find the emerald city) and we forced the GPS to take us there and therefore around the mess we were in an to Karadut.  

My room.  Simple, but sufficient 

We went all the way through the village to finally find the Nemrut Keravansery. Where we were met by Hami and shown to our rooms.  I was a little disappointed that we got two rooms with one bed each, when I had asked for double rooms.  Erin and Lizzy were willing to share and  since Karen didn't come, I got my own bed.  We arrived at about 7:15, and were in discussion about wheather it was worth trying to go up to see the sun set, especially since it was so cloudy and there might not be a sun set to see, when Hami told us it was too far and too late.  Just then, as if to taunt us, the mountains behind us light up brilliant red, showing that there was a sunset and it was probably beautiful, but that we were missing it as we stood there.  

The sun set was there, but we were not.

 Hami also suggested that we decide in the morning if we were going to go up for sun rise (leaving the hotel at 4:30) or wait until after breakfast and go up at 8:30, having slept in.  We decided that we would get up at 4;10 and if it was actively raining (as opposed to drizzling or foggy) we not would go.  I realized at this point that we should have paid the 9TL to go in from the other side, to see the sun set and then gotten to the hotel after, but oh well.  Future visitors can benefit from our hindsight.  We went and had a little rest before meeting up again for dinner at 8:30.

I hiked up a little hill just after the sun set to see what I could see and got this picture of the hotel.  

 Dinner was really good.  We started with a tasty lentil soup well spiced with fennel among other things.  We had salad and then the main course, rice and stew if I remember correctly.  We had water to drink and lots of bread.  Hadi was surprised how much bread we ate.  He asked if we wanted fruit or Turkish sweet and we opted for the sweet, it was not knufe, because it didn't have the cheese in the middle nor was it covered in sugar syrup, but it was made from shredded wheat and it was very tasty.  We sat there chatting about the day and our plans and things, when the power goes out.  No body panics, which was nice, we just kind of keep chatting for a few minutes, when Hadi comes in with a candle and after not too long the power comes back on.  The night is very clear and Erin suggests going to look at some stars.  Lizzy goes to the room and Erin and I go a few hundred meters up the road in the car to a wide spot where we can look at the stars without the light pollution from the hotel.  It was gorgeous, but cold and we didn't last very long.

The next morning we are up and out, assessing the situation at 4:10.  It is very foggy, but it isn't raining, so we proceed with the plan, get dressed as warmly as we can and head out.  there are already service buses on the road, so we know we have the timing about right.  It might be a 15 minute drive up the hill to the parking lot where we pay and start climbing.  The path is nice (much nicer than much of the road we were on the day before), wide and paved with large rocks.  At some points it was slippery as the condensation from the air collected on the rocks.  I was slow, but not the slowest and there were plenty of other people there to keep me company up the hill.  The hike might have been 20 minutes and I was not feeling the cold by the time I got to the top.  It remained very foggy and I couldn't see the people or the path more than 10 paces in front of me.  The fog remained with us all the way to the top, so instead of a dramatic sun rise, we got a mysterious mist and the statues seemed to be half hidden.

The heads were likely removed from the bodies deliberately sometime in the past when iconoclasm was heresy, but they have been set up right for the tourist's benefit.  

An artists rendering of what it might have looked like.  

 The folks seated with King Antiochus I (presumably in the middle) are Apollo, Zeus, Fortuna, and Hercules, but I am not sure which one is which.  He was trying to legitimize his throne by claiming heavenly lineage.  The eagle and lion statues were also symbols of power.

 I wish I knew which head was which, but alas, I do not.

We were there, but the sun rise was not.

I braved the extreme cold to get this free breakfast picture.  

 We walked around to the sunset side, where the heads were bigger, but mostly the same.  There were still a lot of people there and annoying chains in the way of taking any really good pictures.  We experimented with some head shots of us, but nothing really worked out and my fingers kept freezing up, so I would have to put them in my pockets for awhile until the feeling came back and I could work the camera again.  After a few minutes there, we went back to the east side, where we had the place to ourselves.  It was possibly even foggier now and we took some fun pictures and then headed down the hill.

The following series would make a great movie, if I knew how to do such a thing.  My mouse scroll button seems to do a pretty good job of jumping from one picture to the next so it is almost like a movie.

We returned down the hill and were invited to have tea in the little tea shop and souvenir shop by the entrance.  I bought some magnets and a replica head, Erin and Lizzy bought magic mugs and we all left happy.  As we return to the hotel we were convinced that the fog was even heavier than on the way up and by the time we got back it was really raining.  We had breakfast and celebrated the fact that we didn't sleep in and go after breakfast as if anything it would have been worse than at the crack of non-existent dawn.

The fog and the road on the way down the hill.

Another shot from our way down the mountain.  We were in a break between two layers of clouds, which made it very dramatic looking.  

After breakfast we had a nap and packed up and left.  We took the yellow brick road all they way to Gaziantep and as expected it took about four hours.  We stopped to buy beverages and to switch drivers.  Lizzy even had a chance to remember how to drive a manual transmission across the gas station parking lot.

At one point on our way, when we are turning from one highway to another, we spot a road side stand with what looks like peach jam in jars (at least that is what it looked like to me, Erin was correct right away saying it was honey.)  We went around the round about an extra time to go back and stop.  Two men come out from a bit of a shelter they had away from the road and engage us in conversation (and by us I mean Erin and Lizzy this time, I was tired and less inclined to engage).  Erin bought a big jar of honey and they insisted on serving us tea, which turned out to be Nescafe I think, but I had already had two cups of tea that day and knew I couldn't have any more caffeine if I had any hope of sleeping that night.  They were very friendly and hospitable and we stayed for 10-15 minutes.  Lizzy ended up buying a jar of honey as well, so it was a good day for the honey men.

I fell asleep in the back just as we got to Gaziantep and apparently missed the being lost and deciding where to go part of the trip, which is fine by me.  I woke up as we were pulling into a car park somewhat near the Gaziantep city museum, having failed to find the lunch place recommended in the guidebook.  We got some money and found a place that looked good.  I had kuru fasule, which was very tasty and easy, since I was still groggy from my nap.  Next we went to the city museum, which accepted muze cards, so we didn't have to pay the 1TL adult admission price.  (It is the principle of the thing.)  The museum was very good.  I wish I had gone there the first time I was in Gaziantep.  There was an audio guide that knew where you were and would give you the audio for the video that was playing on loop in each room.  They had exhibits on the produce of the region, the arts and crafts and the history.  It was very much propaganda, but still very interesting and it made me want to explore the city more.

One of the highlights of the museum was the baklava explanation exhibit. (photo credit: Erin)

shopping in the copper pazaar

After the museum we went shopping.  We had seen a video on the hand made shoe industry and went in search of the vendors.  Places were closing up (it was 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon) but we found two places that sold hand made shoes and both Lizzy and Erin bought some.  Lizzy also bought a couple of copper pitchers (Erin had already bought me one when she was there three weeks ago) and then we stopped for dried apricots, pistachios and baklava.  I don't usually like pistachios  but this is where they are from and they are particularly good.  I have no such issue with baklava, but did I forgot to ask for kuru (dry) baklava and ended up with normal, which is only good.

A copper artist scratching Lizzy's name into her purchase.

The detour signs we were following. (photo credit: Lizzy)

Our last adventure came on the way back to the airport.  We finally navigated the one way streets and traffic aids which keep you from turning left or turning around on major roads to encounter a detour.  The sign specifically said airport on it, so we knew we had to follow (that and the road was totally torn up beyond the sign.)  We turned right onto a side street and then left on to a road parallel to the one we wanted and the signage was very good, so we were ok for a while.  Then there were no more signs and the guy we were following got to his destination and we were lost.  We tried to get back on the main road, but it was too early, so we had to make a crazy point turn and try again further on.  Now the side streets of any old city in Turkey are something best avoided in a car, if you ask me.  They are often just one lane wide, with no sidewalks even, and so if someone is coming the other way (regardless of if it is a two way street) you have to pull way over or back up, or wait your turn to get down the street.  Quite often someone will just park in the middle of the street, maybe to drop something off or pick something up, maybe to have a chat and a cup of tea, who cares that you are blocking the road.  Then there are the pedestrians.  In most cases in Turkey, pedestrians don't have the right of way if you are driving, but think they do if they are walking.  They have no problem walking down the middle of the road, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there is a car waiting to knock them over.  Anyway, we did find the main road again and even found a gas station that was easy to get to.  We were running short on time, so we had a strategy for maximizing our time at the gas station.  As soon as we pulled in (on the wrong side of the pump), we all jumped out and started organizing our stuff.  We had accumulated a fair amount of stuff, but none of it was in the suitcases.  So while they guy was holding the hose up over the trunk of the car to pump the gas, we unloaded everything, sorted out who it belonged to and got it all packed and back in the car.  We had spectators, that is how entertaining this event was, but we got it done and got back on the road in record time.

We pulled into the parking lot to look for the car rental folks just as they called me to find out where we were and with 3 minutes to spare on our estimated return time.  They took the car without a hassle, even though it was very muddy (thank goodness for the hard rain on the way back from Gaziantep to wash some of it away).  We walked into the airport 40 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave, but found we had an extra 10 minutes due to a delay.  It turns out that you can buy baklava (for the same price) in the airport, so we will know that for next time.  We just had time to take turns in the bathroom, catch our breathes and get on the airplane for home.  The return journey was very smooth.  Our bag was waiting on the carousel by the time we got to baggage claim, there was a taxi at the stand willing to take us, and we were home by 10pm.

It may have been the longest two day weekend I have ever had, but the road trip stories generated join the ranks of other epic road trips I have taken, and it is the stories that matter, right?

Spring Break 2013

I met Ann and Craig on a church trip to Cameroon in January 2001, so it seemed quite natural to travel with them again through Turkey during spring break.  We had been planning this trip for almost the whole time I have been here and it was great when it finally came to fruition.

They arrived on a Thursday afternoon and we had arranged that they would get the Havatas bus to Taksim and I would meet them there.  I teach last period every day, so I couldn't leave campus early enough to meet them at the airport, which takes ~90 minutes to get to from where I live.  I got to Taksim and promptly misunderstood a text from Keeley, who was kindly keeping track of their plane's status.  I got the impression that it was late and mistakenly thought I had time to get to the airport to meet them.  I was on the bus, stuck in traffic, when I realized my mistake, but couldn't do anything about it but go all the way to the airport and turn around again.  We had also arranged that Craig was going to buy a sim card for his phone and give me a call when he had it so I could check in on their progress.  I still hadn't heard anything by the time I got to the airport and the guy at the Turkcell kiosk was as unhelpful to me as he apparently had been with Craig, since he never told Craig how to activate the sim card, so he couldn't have called me if he tried.  I was getting worried when I couldn't find them so I called Marshall and asked him to go to Taksim to look for them, while I made my way back there on the bus.  He was on his way when I got a call from Craig, (using his California number) saying they made it to Taksim and were waiting at the Starbucks.  Ok, good, they are safe and I am heading in the right direction.  Fortunately the ride back from the airport wasn't so long and I was just one bus behind them, so they only had to wait ~30 minutes and hadn't even finished their coffee by the time I found them.

We made it the rest of the way back to campus in one piece after a long slog through the shore road traffic in the early evening, but at least we had seats (in a cab :-).

I had to work on Friday, so after I woke up Ann, who joined my morning walk (and then went back to sleep) they started the process of adjusting to the time change before hiking up the hill at noon to meet me for lunch.  I introduced them to the cafeteria and Bilal before showing them around campus a bit and almost forgetting to go to flag ceremony. ***Marching band*** We met folks for drinks after school and they got to meet my friends and finally put some faces to the names in all of my stories.

I had a bit of an agenda for the weekend (knowing that I wanted to buy a large rug for my house back home and really wanting Ann's help to do it) so our first stop on Saturday morning was the Covered Baazar.  We wandered and shopped and made our way to Adnan and Hasan where they were great, as usual, and very patient as they showed us every kilim and sumak of the size I was looking for.  They didn't even chuckle when I pulled out the floor plan of my house that my dad copied and sent with Ann for this very purpose.  We ended up finding a great sumak that is gorgeous, dark blue and red and with great shapes in it.  It served another purpose as well, as every time we were approached on the street by someone whose brother could give us a good price on carpet, we had the perfect rejoinder, 'sorry, we have already bought one.'

We also bought some bowls and other small things and walked from there to Sultan Ahmet where the Aya Sofia and Blue Mosque are.  We weren't planning to go in, but I wanted to show them where the things were so they could find them again when they came back on their own.  

Ann and Craig in front of the Aya Sofia.

We took a ferry from Eminunu to Kadikoy just as the sun was setting.  We were going to spend the better part of the week in Asia, but it is kind of cool to take a boat from one continent to the other in the same city.  We walked through the fish market, a much friendlier open air pazaar, on our way to Ciya where we had very tasty food, including a candied pumpkin slice which wasn't what I was expecting and wasn't a favorite of Ann's.  We caught a ferry back to Kabatas and walked as far as Besiktas to double the number of buses we were eligible for, but it was still a long slog home.  They were starting to get the picture of what I most complain about here, traffic.  

The Blue Mosque on the left and the Aya Sofia on the right.

Sunday was Easter, so we went to the Union church for the early service.  I go there probably 3/4 of the Sundays that I go to church.  The people are friendly and I like the music.  When I need a dose of liturgy, I go to the Anglican church, but no one ever talks to me there, so I don't hang around.  It is my usual custom these days to walk back to campus, which takes me about 90 minutes, but today we had things to see.

The Union Church all gussied up for Easter Service.

This guy was clearly out to have his picture taken and if you were too obvious about it (or cute) he would insist on a kiss on the cheek as payment for the picture.  He didn't ask me, but I would have kissed the dog, who was doing all the work.

On Istiklal Cad.  Easter morning.

We had tea with some folks from church, which is a very nice custom and then we headed down to the Dervish lodge at the end of Istiklal. I had passed by many times, but never gone in or found out more.  I had remembered the sign which said there was a show every Sunday at 5pm and we were planning to get tickets for that, then walk around and come back.  It turned out that the show service was at 3 and entrance to the museum was separate.  We bought tickets for the service and then for the museum and walked around.  It was very nicely laid out with good signage in English and the audio guide gave additional information.  (I don't know that the audio guide was really necessary since the signage was so good.)  The guy we bought the tickets from suggested being back by 2:30, so when we were done with the museum we headed directly down the hill to get fish from under the Galata bridge.

The cemetery in the Dervish Lodge.  The tops of the tombstones reflect the occupation of the person buried there. 

One of the exhibits in the museum was on calligraphy and this is a detail of one of the examples.  

There were an astonishing number of people on the bridge.  Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised they were out of hamsi, but I was disappointed.

We rushed back up the hill (thank goodness for the tunel) and got to the Lodge at 2:40, in time to get seats in the third (and last) row.  We were given an 'order of service' which was very helpful in understanding what they were doing and where they were in the process.  

The dervishes preparing to whirl.

One hand up, one hand down, so that the energy flows through you (filling on one side and spilling on the other side), one foot stays in place, the other does the work of spinning you.  

After the ceremony we walked back down the hill and crossed the Galata bridge for real this time.  Ann was amazed at how many people were out.  It was only the beginning of April.  If she could see the place now (a month later) she wouldn't be so impressed with the scene below.

The teeming hordes at the Eminunu side of the Galata bridge.

We explored the spice market and looked at the pet/leech street before making our way back through Sultan Ahmet to Haseki tram station where we were meeting folks to go to dinner at the Akdeniz Hatay Sofrasi.  (It had been recommended by Felicia, who knows things.)  We had made reservations for 8 and had pre-ordered two of their signature dishes: chicken cooked in salt and lamb cooked in salt.  Craig was given the job to break the thick crust and he had to work at it with the hammer and chisel.  Oh, and did I mention that it came out on fire?  I am pretty sure that was a gimmick  which had nothing to do with the cooking of it, but it certainly looked cool.

Craig showing his manliness by opening the salt crust on chicken

Everything was very, very tasty and amazingly cheap, with mezes, more meat than we could eat and dessert it came to just over 35TL each (about $20).  I want to make sure I go back there again before I leave. We took the tram as far as Kabatas and then I think we took a cab.  When we got out of the cab on campus, Craig nearly stepped on this hedgehog.  They are all over campus, but usually you need a dog to find them.  I think this is just the third I have seen close up.

Monday April 1st

I needed to bring my passport to the American Embassy to get additional pages sewn in and there aren't very many days when it is open and I am not working, so I took this opportunity.  I dropped Ann and Craig off at Emigran Park to see the Lale (Tulip) festival while I continued on the bus a little farther for my appointment. I was plenty early for my appointment but it took almost that whole time to work through the line to get in.  Some folks seemed to be able to go straight to the front, but I couldn't figure out what the magic password was.  It was easy once I was inside and they happily took my money and my passport, promising to send it back in a few days.  I walked back to the park and was able to enter from the top and connect with Ann and Craig in the middle.  The tulips were amazing again this year and it was very nice to be there on a foggy Monday morning with only our 20 closest friends instead of on a sunny Sunday morning with 20,000 others.

Ann and I are giving each other the evil eye.  Get it? 

These flamey ones are my favorites. 

Ann and her kumpir. 

We rode the bus past campus to Ortakoy because I wanted them to experience potato lane, or kumpir alley.  It is just one more example of a street where everyone sells the same thing.  Maybe there is safety in numbers, but it seems to me, you would get more business if you were the only "insert the commodity here" shop in the neighborhood, but that is not the Istanbul way.  There are 8 baked potato shops in a row and they are all exactly the same.  The same toppings, the same price, the same everything.  We chose randomly and ordered our potatoes, one of which Ann models here.  Kumpir are giant baked potatoes that are smashed up in their skins, and the now mashed potato is mixed with cheese, butter and salt before they ask you what toppings you want.  Olives, yogurt, peppers, hot dogs, pickles and potato salad (don't ask me why you would mix potato salad into your mashed potato) are among the options.  You can then put as much ketchup and mayonnaise on top as you want, but I usually refrain.  

We went back to my place to pick up our luggage and get on the bus to the tram to the airport.  We had debated about how to get to the airport and it turned out taking the tram was a mistake.  It is fine for rush hour with no luggage, but there is really no advantage (other than a small price difference) if there is no traffic and the downside is large when you have luggage and are going to the domestic terminal.  Anyway, we arrived in good time (at the terminal at the time our flight was supposedly boarding) and had an uneventful, albeit late, flight to Kaysari.

We were picked up at the airport by a man in a van who already had two older ladies, and I got the impression they had been waiting and were put out by our tardiness.  Craig sat in the front and chatted with the driver while Ann and I shared the back with the women, with whom we did not chat.  The driver flew like the wind and we go to Uchisar in record time and were soon installed at Taka Ev.  I am not sure if it was Murat or Enis who met us initially but they were both fantastic and super helpful.  We arranged to take a balloon ride the next morning (giving us the most chances should they be canceled due to weather) and agreed to have dinner in the hotel before going out for a short walk up to the 'castle' for which the town was named.  It was closing in a few minutes so we chose not to pay to go in, saving it for later.  There were some great (read awful) plaster/plastic? cast fairy chimney formations for super cheap (bigger than a basketball for 5TL)  I almost brought one back to Marshall as a thank you for watching the cat, but I ended up buying enough other stuff that I had no space in my luggage. Marshall should be thankful.

This picture was taken later in our visit, but it is the best one I have of the hisar, castle or fortress.  It was the highest formation for miles around which made it very easy to find and get reoriented. Our hotel is near the top on the rightish
side.

Craig is very friendly and chatted up the other guests who were waiting for dinner when we returned to Taka Ev and we ended up joining the tables to all eat together.  There was a couple from New York (he is a math teacher and doesn't drive, she works as a volenteer coordinator and could hardly get a word in) and a family also from New York (she is Chinese and he is German and the kid was a sophomore in high school and they clearly travel a lot).  They were very friendly and gave us some suggestions for places to visit and/or eat while we were staying.  

We tried to go to bed early since it was going to be a very early pick up, but I don't think we got to bed before 10 and 5:45 came around quickly.  We were picked up and taken to the company office in Goreme where there was coffee and pastries, things to sign and payments to make while we were waiting for everyone to be gathered from their various hotels.  I was worried about the weather because it was quite foggy and the visibility was not good.  The sun hadn't risen yet, so I had hope, but not a lot.  We were picked up with Pat and Patrick a couple living in Hong Kong, but he was ABC and she had studied in England only to move back to Hong Kong to be closer to her mother.  Once everyone was there, we got back in the vans to go out to the launch site.  

We had a big basket and we were crammed in, I think there were 16 of us.  Clearly more than they had planned on because the pilot organized us and told us which quadrant to get into and Pat and Patrick were left over.  They eventually squeezed into two different sub baskets and made their way to the center, so at least they could see each other.  I am glad that I had done the hot air balloon thing before because it was too squishy to be very comfortable.  

The sun rose but the fog remained.  The rock formations were still spectacular and it was very cool to see them from the top and to fly right up to the tops of them.  

As Ann says, it is better to be in a dull balloon, looking out at the pretty ones.  Unfortunately, ours was one of the more colorful ones flying that day.  

We ere not alone in sky.

I am pretty sure we are over the rose valley.

Balloon with rock formations for size comparison.

Even though the sky never really got clear while we were up, looking back over the week, I do believe we went on the best of the mornings available to us.  The only real down side was the crying baby, who I would have thrown over board, but couldn't reach.  After we landed we had champagne, which our pilot told us was a tradition from the very first balloon flight.  I didn't know that, but with the possible exception of my balloon ride in Egypt, it has certainly been present at every other opportunity.

We were dropped off at Taka Ev and arranged with Murat to go on a hike with him leaving at 10. That gave us about an hour so we gave the hisar another try and actually went in and climbed to the top.  I might have been more impressed with the view if we hadn't just gotten off the balloon, but it was still a nice perspective.

I waited and waited for Craig to be alone in this shot, but one after another person from another group kept climbing up to stand next to the flag pole and eventually I gave up.  They were probably thinking the same thing about Craig being in their pictures.  

Murat says he goes for a hike every day as part of his excersice and he enjoys taking people with him.  We felt like we won the lottery on the first try (a new favorite expression of mine from Alex).  He said it was a 5km hike, but it took us 3 hours and not even I am capable of going that slow, so I wonder.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Rose Valley

Free breakfast t-shirt in the Rose Valley

You can definitely see the striations formed by the different sedentary levels, which I never really understood since it was supposedly volcanic.

The hike included several churches and even a tea house.  The views and vistas were stunning.  It wasn't the fairy chimneys that are on all the postcards, but sharp valleys and clear erosion paths and a surprising number of different colors that made this an excellent hike.  After we were done, Murat dropped us off in Goreme at a Manti place where we had a leisurely lunch and the surprise that Murat had ordered baklava for us for dessert.

We walked from there back the way we came to the Goreme Open Air museum.  We had less than an hour before they closed, but this was really our best chance to see it.  There were several dwellings close together that had been carved out of the rock and a surprising number of those were churches.  Early Christians came here to hide out from those who were persecuting them.  It is possible that many of the people lived in less permenant structures and they just used the rock for the churches, but the ratio didn't seem right as it was.  I got my muze card! Which means for the last three months I am in Turkey many museums (the ones run by the government) are free!  (It also means discounts at many places including the government store, 15%! but that is for later in this story.)

I wasn't supposed to take a picture inside this church, partially because the flash can damage the fresco (I didn't use a flash) but also so they can sell postcards and prints at the gift shop.  It is amazing how well preserved it is.

The rock is very soft so it is easy to carve, both inside and out. 

This was probably the biggest church we went it, separate rooms and everything.  It was surprisingly light inside as well.

A lone chimney with a window carved in its wall.

This church cost extra to go into once we were already inside the Goreme Open Air Museum.  It had the most impressive frescoes which I wasn't supposed to take pictures of, but again, didn't use a flash.

When we were kicked out of the museum we walked back to Goreme (I think Craig clocked our kilometers that day, but I don't remember how far he said we went, it was a long way.)  Ann and I went into a ceramics shop to look at some plates and then we wondered through the town looking at other things and buying some things here and there.  We weren't really all that hungry, since we had had a late and rather large lunch, but eating seemed to be the thing to do so we went to one of the places recommended by the folks we met the night before, My Mother's Cafe and split a mixed grill and salad.  We managed to find the town's cab and  went back to Uchisar to sleep.

On Wednesday we took the so called "Green Tour" one of 3-4 tour loops offered in the area.  We joined other folks from other hotels and got on a mini bus first to an overlook of the pigeon valley.

I wonder who lived at the top of these chimneys.

And then on to Derin Kuyu, or Deep Well one of the underground cities built for defense and as hiding places by the same Christians who built a disproportionate number of churches above ground.  (and by built, of course I mean carved.)  The underground city was not as claustrophobic as either Ann or I feared it would be even though there were many other minbusses full of tourists down there with us.  It was well lit and there was sufficient ventilation that the air was fresh.  We went down '8' floors, but they were not really one on top of the other so I dont think we were all that deep (reminiscent of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Journey to the Center of the Earth, both Jules Verne books who were frustratingly deceptive in their titles.)  Our guide (who was impressed that I remembered her name for 5 minutes, but then became less impressed when she found out I live here so Turkish names are not that hard for me anymore) said that the folks didn't live in here for very long at any one time.  It was just when folks were out looking for them, or for trouble that they would move inside for a week or two.

The underground city at Derin Kuyu

They even carved a church in their cave.

After the underground city it was nice to be back in the open again and we when to the Ilhara Valley for a hike along the river.  There were several churches here but we only stopped at one, and that was really ok with me as I am almost to the point where I think 'seen one, seen 'um all.' which of course I know isn't true, but as I keep saying, I need an animal vacation before I can be excited about more rock vacations.

This church isn't as well preserved as the ones in Goreme, but you can see the mixing of cultures.  We were told that none of the people here have eyes, but instead blank spots, so they cant give worshipers the evil eye while your back is turned.  

We also learned how to tell how old a church is by whether it has people painted in it or not.  There was a period where icons were forbidden, so if there are just geometric shapes the church must be so old, josh, I wish I could remember.

We walked along the bottom of the valley along side the river.

I liked this rock formation because it looks like the mountain has just seen something scandalous and is politely covering his mouth while making an 'O' face. 

Lunch was right on the edge of the river which was very pleasant.

Theoretically the inspiration for the setting of the first Star Wars movie (chronologically, not plot wise).  They ended up fliming in Tunisia because Turkey was in some sort of political turmoil.  I bet they wish they weren't just like M&M's wishes they has just let ET eat them...

Our next stop was a monastery so it kind of makes sense that there would be a bunch of church buildings all together.

This was the main church building for the monastery   

I got tired of carrying my head around, so I set it on a ledge, it was nice.  

Our last stop was at another overlook.  Those rocks in the middle remind me of prairie dogs standing on their hind legs. 

I think we had dinner at the hotel again this night, but weren't as social with the other guests.  We did pursue the idea of taking a cooking class.  Someone mentioned that Topdeck, a restaurant in Goreme offered cooking classes and the internet confirmed this, but when Enis called them for us, they had given it up, the resturant keeping them busy enough.  I kept looking though and found Cappadocia home cooking which looked good.  Enis called and they had space for us the next day and were even willing to come pick us up if we helped to pay for gas.  Craig was planning to go for a hike with Murat until the wind got going and Murat recommended against it, saying that it was dangerous.  In the end all three of us went and it was a really good experience, a highlight of the visit.

Tolga picked us up in a borrowed car (he had said his was not for tourists) and we drove the 30km or so to his home in Urgup.  Craig chatted him up in the front seat while Ann and I chatted in the back.  When we arrived we first got a tour of his house including the fruit trees that are just starting to blossom and the vegetable garden just planted.  We met his father who was working on the new teaching kitchen in the back. They are hoping to have larger classes in a more professional kitchen soon.  (Really soon, they said it would be ready in a week, but it looked a little further out than that.)  Then we went into the house, a very nice, modern house with a small but useful kitchen and a comfortable sitting room.  There we met Tolga's mother, Havva, and his wife Tuba (Tuğba, I think).  We started with tea, cookies and chatting.  Tolga translated for us, although I think Tuğba had more English than she was letting on.  They were delighted to find out that I had some Turkish and encouraged me to use it.  I am not sure what to think when Tolga would repeat what I said.  If he understood it enough to 'translate' wouldn't they have understood as well?  Anyway, it was fun and good practice and I could see that I might actually learn Turkish if I ever spoke it with people who were willing to help and correct and work to understand.  In any case it was really nice and relaxed and the cookies were great.

After we had had several cups of tea and many small, round, delicious cookies, Havva brought out a small, round, low table and we came to sit around it.  Our first lesson was sarma, filled grape leaves.  They use the white grape leaves from their own vines which are brined for some long time.  They had made the bulgur ahead of time, so all we did was the filling.  Tolga gave Ann a clip board and pen so she could take notes, which was good planning and very helpful.

Sarma rolling 

Tolga, Tuğba and Havva, our hosts and teachers for the afternoon. 

Rolling the dough for mantı

I have made sarma before (although these were served hot and in a tomato sauce which made them the tastiest I had ever eaten) what I was most looking forward to making was the mantı  very small Turkish filled pasta.  When you find it translated on menus it is usually written as Turkish ravioli, but it is more like tortellini, in size and shape.  The dough was already made, so we started by rolling it out with a very small diameter but long dowel and lots of flour.  I was much too timid with it and was going very slowly.  Ann had problems with sticking, but some how, in the hands of the experts it thinned out and stayed unstuck in no time.   They had a new gadget to try out, a mantı dough cutter.  It had a dozen round metal blades about 2cm apart on a roller.  The idea was to make several cuts at once.  It looked like it was working, but I guess the cuts weren't all the way through and they quickly resorted to cutting with a knife by hand again, about a million very small squares of pasta.  The next step was long and tedious and it was a good thing there were 6 of us.  I will eat mantı with more respect from now on (although it is probably machine made now).  We took a very small amount of the meat mixture (again made ahead of time) maybe the size of a small pea and placed it in a square of dough then we squeeze the sides in so the corners point up and it is sealed to itself.  Then repeat, and repeat, and repeat.  The pasta dries for a little while and then is boiled like any other kind of pasta.  It is served with garlic yogurt sauce and tomato/oil sauce.  Yum.

Craig was doing well, but if you look at his pile vs Havva's pile you will see the importance of experience. 

From there we adjourned to the kitchen were several other dishes had already been prepared and where we got to see Havva make the dessert.  It was flour oil and milk in about equal proportions cooked on the stove until it was thick and hot.  Then it was arranged on a plate to make a bowl where a piece of honey comb dripping with honey was placed on top.

Havva, Tolga and the dessert in the kitchen.  It is easy to see the family resemblance   

It looks like Tolga is dancing, but really he is
demonstrating how to twist the rose borek
after it has been rolled into a snake.

Rose borek with yogurt and hot pepper sauce. 

While we were in the kitchen, Tuğba had been setting up a dining table in the living room.  We had our dishes plus several others including Imam Fainted, rose borek, corban salata and soup.  Everything was delicious.  I am sure we would have stayed and eaten until we exploded, but the friend he borrowed the van from needed it back so he needed to take us back to our hotel in an undetonated state.  To top off the experience, because we had asked about the recipe and method for the cookies we ate at the start, Havva made some for us while we ate.  She wasn't big on measuring things in general but I will never forget that to make the cookies you add enough flour to make the dough feel like an ear lobe.  They came out of the oven when we were already full, so she gave us some to take with us and they made a great snack the next day on the way to the airport.  

Home made manti, made even more tasty because we now know how much work it takes.  

Overall the experience was one of the highlights of not just my vacation in Cappadocia, but my time in Turkey.  The whole family was genuinely welcoming and friendly.  They are fairly new to the business and this is the first year that they are starting to make it profitable and maybe that makes them more open and eager, but I hope they can keep it up and keep enjoying it.

The shiniest mosque I have ever seen.

Back in Uchisar, Ann and I met up with Murat who had offered to take us to a pottery workshop and sales room in Avanos, a place known for its ceramics.  We got the tour through the workshop and got to see a vase thrown on the wheel, pottery drying on racks and people painting them by hand before being lead up to the show room.  The first room we went in had the museum pieces, the one of a kind pieces of art that were gorgeous and very expensive, even with the 50% discount that Murat promised us.  We went through that room to the still hand made, but mass produced pieces.  Our guide/saleswoman took me into a smaller side room which I was surprised to see a dark curtain covering the entrance.  I soon learned why and had the pleasure of sharing with Ann when she wondered in a few minutes later.  I think she was surprised when I closed the curtain and turned off the lights.  She understood when all of the pottery started glowing.  It had been painted with glow in the dark paint. I liked Ann's response, but it was also fun to hear the sales ladies laughing from the other side of the curtain as well, when they heard Ann gasp.  I finally found some things in my price range, a candle holder and a plain terracotta pitcher, that when wrapped up looked like I had spent a lot more money that I had, which then felt like we justified Murat's time in taking us there and waiting to take us back.

He dropped us off in Goreme where we had about 90 minutes to shop before we were going to meet Craig (who had been hiking) for dinner.  We had been in a ceramics shop when we were Goreme a few days earlier and Ann had her eye on some plates.  We could only talk the lady down to 50TL (from 60) each even if we were going to buy 14, so I decided I wouldn't buy any.  Ann was determined so we started trying to find 'matches'.  All of the plates were different, but in fairly consistent ways.  I am sure that any 8 would have been fine, but it is hard to make decisions, so the smallest reason why one is in and another is out can be just the thing you need.  Anyway, as I was making comparisons and choosing some for Ann, I ended up choosing some for myself as well and we bought 14 in the end after all.

Our packages in hand (Murat had taken my previous purchase back to the hotel) we wondered through the town again and made a few more small purchases before meeting Craig on the corner of the main drag closest to the resturant.  It was a good thing Murat asked around and located it for us earlier because I am not sure we would have been able to find it on our own.  Dinner was lovely and we had a table near the fireplace, which made it cosy.  After dinner we found a cab, who took us the long way around town and made it back to the hotel at a reasonable hour.

We were picked up at what seemed to me an absurd hour for our flight from Kayseri to Izmir and we had a long time to wait in the airport, but the flight was uneventful and we made it to Izmir in the late morning.  Renting a car was no problem, they even said we could return it 2 hours into the third day without charging us for a third day, which I really appreciated.  From the Izmir airport, I have only ever gone south to Selcuk and Efesus, but one of the conditions of going to those places again, was that we got to go somewhere I hadn't been and the closest option was Bergma to the north.

So north we went, through the city and the traffic.  It wasn't too long before there was a major slow down and we come to find police in the road flagging some cars over to the side.  I was surprised when I was motioned to the right and asked to stop.  I thought it would be better to pretend to be a complete tourist and speak no Turkish, hoping I might be let off with a warning for whatever I had done to warrant being pulled over.  It didn't work.  The guy who came to the window had no English, but the guy in the booth (with really bad teeth) had enough to tell me that I had been speeding and that I would have a fine to pay.  I don't really see how I could have been going 96km/hr since the traffic was so heavy and if I really was going that fast, then everyone else was too, but I wasn't going to argue, so I just asked how I should pay it and he told me to go to a bank and pay it there.   I was annoyed at the whole situation, but oddly enough not as annoyed at other minor injustices that have happened since I have been here (like the fish lunch with my folks).  Needless to say, I was very cautious for the rest of the trip.

We stopped for lunch at a random establishment at the side of the road and fortunately Craig had a mini to micro USB converter for the GPS.  I had brought the car charger, but it didn't fit in the unit.  When we got home I worked out that the car mount does the conversion, so I will need to take that with me even I don't plan to mount it in the car.  It was about 2 hours total up to Bergma where we struggled through a very cute medium sized town to the fort at the other end of town.  We parked at the midway up the hill and took the cable car the rest of the way.  It was warmer and clearer than it had been in Cappadocia and it really felt like spring was here.

The view of the city from the top of the cable car.

Bergma, ancient Pergamom is a not very well preserved Roman ruin.  I am sure something important happened here because I am familiar with the name, but my brain is like teflon to history, you need to scratch pretty hard with a metal spatula before any of it sticks.

The remains of the temple, to Zeus, if I remember correctly. 

This guy might actually have been round back in the day, but he was surprisingly active and not afraid of us humans to be walking around with a friend on the side of the path. I am very tired of rock vacations, so I take every opportunity to take pictures of animals, even if it means missing the point of where I am and why it is 'interesting'. 

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your arms and heads.

One of these columns is not like the others.

I think this guard dog is a bit late, the city was sacked

Craig found us an alternative path back to the south so we didn't have to go through Bergma again, but unfortunately there was no obvious way around Izmir and by that time it was Friday commute time.  It was bad, but nothing like Istanbul and we had less distance to travel as well.  We made it to Sirince by 8, having texted Charlotte to let her know our updated plans.

Of the three times I have stayed at her bed and breakfast, this was the first time she was actually there.  It was nice to see her and Omer and to chat a little.  They had dinner prepared for us (our third Imam fainted in as many days) which was lovely the fire was going and we relaxed right away.  As I knew from the first time I had walked in almost a year before, I knew Ann would love it and she did.  It is just all the right kinds of cute.  I had hooked them on the audio book I was listening to as we drove up to Bergma and back so we listened to that for a little more before going to bed.

In the morning we had breakfast on the deck and chatted with Charlotte some more before heading down the hill to Efesus.  I didn't mind going in again since my Muze card worked and by this time had almost paid for itself.  I didn't get the audio guide but just enjoyed the almost sunny weather and a nice walk.

The road up to the theater.

The library.

Obligatory cat picture

Ann through the hole in the wall.

The storks nesting on top of pillars in St. John's Basilica also in town

Heather nesting on the top of a (much shorter) pillar at St. John's basilica. 

Of course then there was some shopping and Craig made the discovery that he could get money out of the ATM here, which was probably good and bad.  We went back up to Sirince and then out to dinner (not at the place we were looking for, but still a nice dinner outside on the terrace of some restaurant, then a little more book by the fire and to bed.

Our last day of vacation was very laid back, and started again with breakfast on the patio.

Ann with breakfast.

Then we hiked up to the tower protesting idiocy in government for the view and the breeze.

I really think I could spend all day up this tower with a book and a beverage. 

Back to the airport without trouble and the to Istanbul and then campus where we probably ordered food in since there was nothing in the house.  It was good to be home and the cat seemed to be glad to see us as well.

Ann and Craig stayed until Thursday, entertaining themselves during the day doing tourist things in Istanbul and I met up with them in the afternoons.  On Monday, Lisa and I met them at the spice bazaar and we went to the government store (where my muze card gives me 15% off) and then to dinner.  On Tuesday they came back to me and we made soup and started packing up.  On Wednesday I left school during club time and we went to find the chora church, which coincidentally is closed on Wednesday.  Even though I dragged them on a crazy, crowded, slow moving bus, which we got off too early (clearly not following the first law of busing) and thereby had to walk several blocks farther than we should have, they were good sports about the church being closed.  It was a different and non-touristy part of town which gave a different perspective on the city.  We made it back to campus for fish dinner, but they were tired and it was cold to be sitting outside, so we didn't stay long, coming back to my place to finish packing and starting saying good bye.

They both walked with me and Sandra on the last morning and I got on the 7:30 bus up the hill, trusting that they would be able to get a cab and get to the airport without too much trouble in mid morning, which I found out later that of course they did.

It was great to have them, to be able to share my life and my friends and put pictures to my stories, but it was also nice to have my apartment back.