Sunday, August 29, 2004
i learned the hard way.... (newly updated and with photos below)
Well, I was in a bit of a rush when I started this posting - since I was trying to get it done before the end of the Crystal Palace match. Now that we have a bit more time there is lots I'd like to add...
It began with this:
... do NOT, ever, no matter how hungry you are eat 40 dried apricots in one sitting. I made that mistake on our last day in Istanbul and spent the plane ride to Malatya (the apricot capitol of Turkey ironically) in agony -- worst indigestion EVER -- I actually cried, can you imagine the shame?
Since Pete is busy watching Crystal Palace lose to Middlesborough on the internet (stangely sitting next to a guy from Croydon who is also a CP fan) I thought I would get caught up on the last few days... and he's not looking over my shoulder telling me not to write 'then we did this, then we did that' so I intend to take full advantage!
Anyway - back to 'then we went to Malatya'... Malatya, it turned out, apart from being the apricot capital of Turkey was not much else, so we got on our way quickly to Nemrot Dagi a mountain hosting 8 2000 yr old headless sculptures.
The new bits:
The trip to Nemrot was in a mini-bus with 3 other fellow tourists and what seemed like at least 3 other Turks simply catching a lift to their villages. I did my good deed for the day by translating a letter for them from French to English and made some friends for life. The bus ride was 3 hours (with a lunch break) up and down some of the most spectacular mountains I've seen (better than New Zealand, I swear!) and past villages that make EU membership for Turkey look like a long way off...
The Gunes Hotel when we arrived was literally one of the most remote places I've ever seen (and I've been to Cochrane - Jen, you know what I mean). With surroundings that looked like the moon they had somehow managed to cultivate a lush green lawn! The photos don't do it justice.
After some akward moments with our 2 Japanese and one Turkish tour party partners (the language barrier seemed insurmountable) we headed up to the peak (2200m above sea level - I was very short of breath). Sunset was spectacular, and was made most special by the glorious scenery looking out over the Euphrates river valley. By now we had broken the ice with our new friends and it didn't seem to matter that we had about 20 words in common between us!
Dinner back at the hotel was tasty and chatting (I use the term losely as we had even less shared vocab with the locals than with our tour group) was good - somehow I found myself doing the washing up as a dare! Bed early as catching sunrise meant a 4:30 am start.
Sunrise was even more lovely than sunset - but very cold! By now we were sure that we wanted to stay another day...
We said farewell to Serkut, Katero and Miomi and promptly went back to bed! 4 hours later after recovering from the early start we woke for a chilled out day on the lawn followed by a hike into the mountainside.
Another sunset on the peak and hello to the incoming tour group of 'the clever brothers' and 3 very nice Turkish uni students followed. I think Pete will say it was the fantastic scenery that made this place so special - but for me it was the characters in our 2 tour groups and the hotel staff who made it special (the cook who could only say 'danke', our chain-smoking minibus driver who Pete christened 'Carlos', and the hotel manager who asked us to help him with his English translations while reading the sexy bits of a Barbara Cartland romance - can you explain 'upthrust'?).
After 2 idyllic days we got on our way to Goreme (where we are now) in the Central Anatolian region (more westward) called Cappadocia arriving tired and crabby after 8 hours on a cross country bus.
It began with this:
... do NOT, ever, no matter how hungry you are eat 40 dried apricots in one sitting. I made that mistake on our last day in Istanbul and spent the plane ride to Malatya (the apricot capitol of Turkey ironically) in agony -- worst indigestion EVER -- I actually cried, can you imagine the shame?
Since Pete is busy watching Crystal Palace lose to Middlesborough on the internet (stangely sitting next to a guy from Croydon who is also a CP fan) I thought I would get caught up on the last few days... and he's not looking over my shoulder telling me not to write 'then we did this, then we did that' so I intend to take full advantage!
Anyway - back to 'then we went to Malatya'... Malatya, it turned out, apart from being the apricot capital of Turkey was not much else, so we got on our way quickly to Nemrot Dagi a mountain hosting 8 2000 yr old headless sculptures.
The new bits:
The trip to Nemrot was in a mini-bus with 3 other fellow tourists and what seemed like at least 3 other Turks simply catching a lift to their villages. I did my good deed for the day by translating a letter for them from French to English and made some friends for life. The bus ride was 3 hours (with a lunch break) up and down some of the most spectacular mountains I've seen (better than New Zealand, I swear!) and past villages that make EU membership for Turkey look like a long way off...
The Gunes Hotel when we arrived was literally one of the most remote places I've ever seen (and I've been to Cochrane - Jen, you know what I mean). With surroundings that looked like the moon they had somehow managed to cultivate a lush green lawn! The photos don't do it justice.
After some akward moments with our 2 Japanese and one Turkish tour party partners (the language barrier seemed insurmountable) we headed up to the peak (2200m above sea level - I was very short of breath). Sunset was spectacular, and was made most special by the glorious scenery looking out over the Euphrates river valley. By now we had broken the ice with our new friends and it didn't seem to matter that we had about 20 words in common between us!
Dinner back at the hotel was tasty and chatting (I use the term losely as we had even less shared vocab with the locals than with our tour group) was good - somehow I found myself doing the washing up as a dare! Bed early as catching sunrise meant a 4:30 am start.
Sunrise was even more lovely than sunset - but very cold! By now we were sure that we wanted to stay another day...
We said farewell to Serkut, Katero and Miomi and promptly went back to bed! 4 hours later after recovering from the early start we woke for a chilled out day on the lawn followed by a hike into the mountainside.
Another sunset on the peak and hello to the incoming tour group of 'the clever brothers' and 3 very nice Turkish uni students followed. I think Pete will say it was the fantastic scenery that made this place so special - but for me it was the characters in our 2 tour groups and the hotel staff who made it special (the cook who could only say 'danke', our chain-smoking minibus driver who Pete christened 'Carlos', and the hotel manager who asked us to help him with his English translations while reading the sexy bits of a Barbara Cartland romance - can you explain 'upthrust'?).
After 2 idyllic days we got on our way to Goreme (where we are now) in the Central Anatolian region (more westward) called Cappadocia arriving tired and crabby after 8 hours on a cross country bus.
// posted by courtney and pete @ 17:57 
