After showing Chris' parents around Istanbul, we joined up with our friend Jesse's family and friends to form a group of about 20 people and we went off to Cappadocia and then to the Mediterranean Coast for a Turkish Blue Cruise (note: the link isn't for the company we used, but I can't remember their name)
We left Istanbul and flew into Kayseri, which is known for their rug production, and drove straight through to Urgup, to our cave hotel in the heart of Cappadocia. We stayed at the Gamirasu Cave Hotel, which ended up being one of the best hotel experiences I have had. There is something about the hospitality of the Turks that is unrivaled in any country I have visited. Our group of 20 Americans arrived at the hotel at about midnight. We didn't plan enough in advance to have dinner before we arrived and were all starving once we set down our bags. We asked the manager, a really nice young woman who was about to start her first year teaching English in the area, where we could get a bite to eat. Being pretty much in the middle of nowhere, our only option was to walk to the small market into town and buy some bags of chips and sodas. As she thought about it some more she said, 'Well, I can ask the shopkeeper to bring a basket of some items here and you can just pay for what you'd like'. We thought that would be a great idea, but she decided it just wasn't good enough. "Actually," she said, "I won't be able to sleep knowing you're all here hungry." So, although she was just waiting for us to arrive, to head home for the evening, she opened up the darkened dining room, set 20 places and, though she wasn't a waitress or a chef, heated up some amazing soup from the kitchen and served us all soup and bread. And with a smile on her face the whole time. It was amazing! I don't have any gread pictures of the hotel interior, but the rooms are all dug into the rock, like the caves that litter the whole area of the country. The website pictures are better than anything I have.
Cappadocia is one of those places that you just have to see to believe, it literally looks like you're on another planet. Here is one of my favorite pictures:
The rest of the pictures are here...
When we finished exploring caves in Cappadocia, we hopped on a minibus for a fabulous overnight drive to the coast to get onto our Blue Cruise. There were some issues with our boat being ready, but mid-afternoon the next day, we were aboard our boat filled with Turkish food, beer, wine and a crew to prepare it all for us! The next few days would be filled with lounging, eating drinking, reading, snorkeling and taking in the Mediterranean coastline.
I'm off to rifle through the packages that Chris just brought in from the school mailbox (Thank you mom and dad, Tanya and Tom and Rebecca!!) and will write more in a bit!
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