Cave Life Suits Us Well

I am in love with Turkey. We have had such a great time and I keep finding out about places that I didn't get to see and I am already trying to figure out when we can go back. Cappadocia was a huge highlight of the trip for me...beautiful scenery like something out of a fairy tale, wonderful people and we stayed at a fantastic hotel. So, anyway, here is the low-down...

June 4 - Istanbul to Cappadocia

After our peaceful dinner on a rooftop we headed back to our hotel to grab our bags. We took a taxi to the bus station and hopped on the bus. The bus looked like it would be comfortable but the eleven hour ride proved to be a bit long for that. The worst part was there was no bathroom on board...you had to wait for the two scheduled stops in the middle of the night. Not good news after our bottle of wine and liter and a half of water at dinner.

June 5 - Cappadocia

We arrived in Nevsehir at around 8am and found our way to another bus that shuttled us to Uchisar, the small town where we would be staying. The bus dropped us off in the center of town with no direction on which way to go. Luckily it was truly a small town...we had been told the hotel office was in front of city hall and down the street we saw a building with flags out front. We hoped that was it and headed down the street. Along the way a friendly shopkeeper helped us out and let us know that we were on the right track. Moments later we were at the steps of the office of Les Maisons de Cappadoce meeting the two wonderful French women who run the place. They were very welcoming and had a cute dog so we were even able to get some puppy lovin' while the girls told us what we should do during our short stay.

We headed to the hill where the hotel is located and caught our first glimpse of our cool new digs. The hotel is part cave and part stone building. Our suite had it's own little patio complete with comfy lounge chairs and grill. The suite itself was awesome - completely decorated in white and remarkably roomy for a cave!

After we got settled in and lounged around for a while (we hadn't slept well on the bus) we decided to head out for a hike. Our hotel was perfectly situated on the edge of the Pigeon Valley so that we could walk right our door and begin a hike. The land was very dry and desert-like with a lot of low scraggly shrubs. We came across a big snake which was luckily headed in the opposite direction. We got lost a couple times, just as the girls at the hotel said we would, but quickly found a group of hikers to follow. We made our way to the next town over, Goreme, where we had a very traditional lunch of stew with eggplant, lamb and rice. During lunch we sat on cushions on the floor and ate at low tables.

Later on we headed out to check out the town, which was very touristy and made us glad to be staying in Uchisar. Goreme has an open-air museum so we headed there and checked out a bunch of cave churches with beautiful frescoes. It was extremly hot out so we took a taxi back to Uchisar at the end of the day.

That evening we had our first chance to enjoy that patio overlooking the valley. It was so peaceful - the only sounds were brids chirping and the occasional call to prayer over the loudspeakers from the nearby mosques. It was a beautiful night. It struck me that while I sat there enjoying the tranquilty things were very different in neighboring Iraq.

Later on we went to a local restaurant recommended by the girls at the hotel. Just as they had warned us, the owner was drunk, but no worries as the food was delicious and we did get a kick out of his nonsensical conversations with us.

June 6-7 - Cappadocia

The next two days were enjoyed lazing around, hiking in the valleys and exploring tiny Uchisar. Every evening our breakfast was delivered in a basket and then in the morning fresh baked bread was hanging on the doorknob. It was fun to cook our own breakfast after living in hotels for so long. We went to the local farmers' market and bought vegetables and to the butcher to buy meat which we later grilled on our patio. We bought some more Turkish wine and have now decided it's excellent (when you find the right stuff). We made full use of the lounge chairs on the porch. We hired a local guide to take us hiking through the Red Valley. Mustafa, our guide, was born in Uchisar and obviously loved his home very much. He was very knowledgeable about the geology, history and culture of the region. He pointed out things we would have otherwise missed and took us to hidden cave churches. The scenery was breathtaking and the hike was one of the highlights of our visit to the area.

On our last evening in Cappadocia we had a nice dinner at a restaurant that overlooked the valley. We were able to watch the colors change as the sun went down. What a wonderful place - we both know it is somewhere we will visit again.

June 8 - Istanbul

We survived another long overnight bus ride and were warmly greeted back at our adorable hotel in Istanbul. The people are so hospitable...feeding us breakfast when we got there, letting us into our room at 8am and just generally being friendly. We spent the day bumming around Istanbul, visiting the mosaic museum, eating donor kebabs and hitting the internet cafe. We got a good laugh out of a local who asked where we were from and when we told him Texas replied with "where are your guns and horses?" Ah yes, that was a good one. Normally they just ask us if we are cowboys. We did some shopping in the Grand Bazaar (told you I couldn't resist) and called it an early night as we had to leave the hotel at 6am the following morning.

June 9 - Istanbul to Budapest

A couple quick flights and we arrived in Budapest. I was amused when we arrived at our hotel at 1:40pm and told we could not check in yet...I just assumed the room wasn't clean but then at exactly 2pm the receptionist called us over and handed over the key. Obviously check-in time was 2pm and she was sticking to it!

We took a walking tour around the Parliament area and the Danube River and took in some nice architecture. Andrassy Street is one of the main city arteries and is tree-lined and full of great old buildings. We passed by St. Stephen's Church, one of the Opera Houses and the fantastic Parliament building. We also eyed up the Four Seasons which has prime real estate on the river in an old palace - it is a gorgeous building.

We had a long and lingering dinner at an Italian restaurant. The food and wine were good and we were strategizing about my business. We had a good time and did some entertaining people watching.

June 10 - Budapest

We woke up to rain. Hoping things would clear up we headed to breakfast where we found some unidentifiable foods. I stuck with the bread and cheese since the rest looked like fish and pate. Unfortunately it was pouring after breakfast and that didn't go well with our plans to do some more walking around the city. We headed to a nearby internet place and it's actually been nice to catch up on the blog and have a chance to upload some pictures. We're hoping things will clear up this afternoon and we'll be off to take in the sights.