Last night, we boarded an overnight bus for Göreme, where we will spend the next three days in Cappadocia. Göreme lies in the provinces of Aksaray, Nevşehir, Nigde, Kayseri, and Kırşehir in the central Anatolian region. Cappadocia is famous for the volcanic tuffs where the early Christians came to escape Roman persecution in the 2nd century B.C. Here, they created the marvelous underground cities. While Antalya and Cappadocia are no doubt two of the largest tourist areas in Turkey, our 9-hour journey took us through areas where visitors to Turkey rarely stop. The number of western-style toilets decreased the further north we traveled, head scarves became the norm, and the people became more ethnic-looking. Whenever we got off the bus, we were clearly a curiosity. No 9-hour bus ride could ever be described as fun, particularly not an overnight one. Yet, our bus had a video screen on the back of every seat with multiple channels and a “bus” attendant who made sure we got back on the bus at each stop and kept us hydrated throughout the night. He even stopped the bus after dropping us off and ran back to give me my glasses case, which I had left in the seat pocket. Kevin and I spent a good portion of the night watching Blood Diamonds in Turkish and an all-animal channel with nothing but animals eating animals.
Somewhere along the way, our fellow travelers realized Bill was blind. Every time we stopped for the restrooms, several gentlemen would rush up to help Bill navigate his way to the facilities, even though Kevin was with him. It was quite touching. I’m sure they couldn’t figure out what the four of us were doing on that bus to begin with, but they were totally captivated by the fact that one of us was sightless. Everyone was so considerate of us and made sure we knew exactly where to go every time the bus stopped and that we got back on. Nobody spoke English.
As the light came up and we drove into the valley, we entered a wonderland of volcanic chimney rocks or “fairy chimneys”. It is as if, during the night, we had been transported to a Tim Burton movie set. The four of us were dropped off in the middle of town, along with Jeffrey, an Australian we quickly befriended. Standing, all alone in the 6 degrees C temperature, waiting for our hotel to pick us up, we were speechless at the scenery before us. Not one of us had ever been in such a place. Finally, the driver arrived in a bright red Willy’s truck. We threw our luggage in and climbed in the back for a chilly, chilly ride up the mountain. As we arrived at our hotel, dozens of hot air balloons were just taking off from the valley floor. We are here for three and a half wonderful Turkish days.
