Thursday 10 February 2011

Cappadocia

I stayed in Istanbul for two nights and joined a tour for Cappadocia, Pamukkale and Ephesus. I was going around with two Chileans but one left for Lebanon so me and Jaime joined the tour. The bus to Cappadocia departed from Istanbul around eight thirty pm. Ten hours bus ride to the main town in Cappadocia, Goreme. I wouldn't say the bus ride was fine.
First day, we checked in at a hotel and soon left for the tour to go around Cappadocia. The Green tour as they called it. Walking was the main part of the tour. We walked through a valley and had a panoramic view of Cappadocia. I wasn't that tired during the day but when got back to the hotel, I couldn't stay up no longer.
Day two, Red tour. Red tour was more about the culture. Pottery and museums. Since I have no knowledge about Christianity, I enjoyed the green tour more. We were going to do a balloon tour in the morning but we decided not to since it was cloudy and the tour guide didn't show up. He came into the room just after we went to bed. He said "we are here so if you don't come now, you are going to lose your money, your choice". Non sense. They were late for forty five minutes without telling us and now they act like it was our fort. We called the tourist office in Istanbul and changed our balloon day to the next day.
Day three. Got up at half five for the balloon tour. The bus came almost on time. They took us to a field where the balloons were getting ready. I think there were twenty people on each balloon. The ride was absolutely stunning! Lift off as the sun rise. Pretty cold up in the air but it was all worth it, money, the trouble the day before. Super. Another amazing thing was the landing. The basket of the balloon landed on a truck with all of us on. That was one fine steering. After the ride, had a nap and went for a walk. Walk around Goreme, maybe for like five hours. So quiet and spiritual place. Had a nap under the sun and I felt like I was unconscious more than being asleep. I was like "where am I", when I woke up. Strange. Decided to walk back to the hotel. Jaime said he had the same strange feeling. Now, the going back part was the most memorable part in my whole tour. We were taking a short cut going through old cave houses. Then, when I was looking for a next path, I saw five sheep sleeping a few meters ahead of me. So, I was about to say to Jaime, "ha, sheep". But the thing is, they weren't sheep. When I said "ha", all of these sheep like creatures woke up and started barking. They were massive dogs trained to attack wolves. One of them got up on four legs and started running toward me barking. I was about to run away but I didn't because I knew it is the last thing I should do. I was actually shouting "sugar!! (well, kind of)" to Jaime. He was panicking too but not like me. He was about to run away too but he stopped. My back was to the dog, was too afraid to look back. I remember asking Jaime "is he going to bite me?". I was ready to give my right arm and hit as hard as I could with my left. I hard that's how to fight a dog, keep your dominant hand for fight and give the opposite. I wasn't, but I was in a way ready to be attacked by five giant dogs. Man, that was scary. I love dogs but I'm not going to lie, my legs were trembling after the encounter. The dogs just run toward us a bit and stopped after all. We were laughing all rest of the walk. I'll never forget that. Got back to the hotel, waited till eight and caught the bus to Pamukkale, another ten hours.picture: above, balloon tour. below, camel on the right, goat like creature sitting in the middle, and there is a hand on the left. palm showing this way and it's like catching something.

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