Turkey Travel-log(ue): Day 4

Istanbul Ataturk Airport, waiting for the flight to Goreme, 9:00 am – 12 noon

I am sitting in a coffee shop at the Ataturk Domestic Airport. The coffee shop, or rather, the coffee area in the BTA food court is called Kokpit Kafe (their spelling, not mine! :) ). It is a delightful place, consisting of a long brightly lit counter with danglers marked with prices, names and sketches of all the eatables available  - Turk Kahvesi (Turkish Coffee), Su Boregi ( a layered pastry filled with spinach and cheese) , pizza, beer, and more. Best of all, there are long wooden communal picnic tables with benches, arranged under two realistic-looking fake trees. 

Kokpit Kafe at Istanbul Ataturk Airport

One tree bears bright yellow lemons and is strung with lamps. The other has a red macaw and a red toy airplane hanging from it's boughs, along with more lamps. The picnic table has a huge stone bowl overflowing with huge artificial but pretty pink and white flowers. At the entrance is another tree, loaded with fake oranges. Clumps of bamboo and pots of white flowers are scattered elsewhere. Overall, it's so cheery and warm and fun, that waiting here for 3 hours for my flight is no chore at all. :) I have already had one tiny cup of dark Turkish coffee, shopped for roasted hazelnuts and pistachio chocolate at the deli/grocery (Tadinda Anadolu) next to the Kafe and now, sipping on bottled water, am reading Lemony Snicket and slowly getting used to the scary-yet-exciting feeling of travelling all by myself.

Turk Kahvesi - Turkish Coffee

By the by, the airport is clean, bright and welcoming....the people are very helpful and most importantly, the loos are clean! (no one can say I don't get my priorities right) I walked into one and encountered a group of coat-and-headscarf-clad old Turkish women. The doors to all stalls were closed so I waited patiently for them to open. After watching me for a couple of minutes, one of the Turkish Ajjis beckoned me over and pointed at one door, saying something in Turkish. Seeing my bemused look, she pushed open the door to reveal an empty stall! I murmured 'Thank You' and walked in.....I really should have learnt basic phrases in Turkish, so I could thank people at least!

An aside - there are so many Indians /Pakistanis around here! Three tables near me have apne des waasi clustered around them. The large-ish group at the neighbouring table is conversing in Gujarati. Waah! And they are headed to Kayseri as well. Maybe Goreme, like so may places around the globe will be overridden with the dhokla brigade too! To be fair, there isn't a dhokla or thepla in sight. They're  munching away on veggie sandwiches and coffee (and beer!!) from Kafe Kokpit.....oh wait, I see a packet of Garden diet bhel being opened......phew! Its good to see that some things never change! :)

Inside the pick-up van, en route to Goreme from Kayseri, 2:00 PM

Arrived in Kayseri to misty rain and cloudy skies. My hotel (The Kelebek) had sent  a guy to pick me up from Kayseri (Goreme is an hour’s drive from Kayseri airport). He heaved me and my bag into the pick-up van, which was equipped with a heater (ooooh so warm and toasty!) and Wifi. A little note with the WiFi password was tacked on to the dashboard. Astounding!

So, as we make our way across barren windswept plateaus and landscapes entirely composed in shades of ochre and grey and white (snow!) to Goreme, I am going to jot down a bit about my journey from Istanbul to Kayseri.

En route from Kayseri to Goreme

The whole excitement of being a in a strange faraway land all alone rapidly dissipated when I walked into the bay of the boarding gate at Istanbul airport. 90% of the passengers on my flight were Indian! Apparently there is some convention of Indian travel agents happening in Turkey and the whole platoon of tour agents are being taken to Goreme for some sight seeing (sights which they will then hawk back home to Indian travellers) What a let down! It was like following a secret trail that ends up in your own backyard. :(

Luckily, my neighbours on the flight were a couple of  young Americans touring Turkey on their own – the young man was a financial reporter working for the Wall Street Journal in Dubai while the woman was a journalist working in New York. Unlike me, who had just one-and-a-half day in Goreme, and wanted to maximise my stay by signing up for a day tour of Cappadoccia, these two were going to rent a car and drive through the valleys around Goreme at a slower pace and without a set itinerary – they had 3 whole days to explore Cappadoccia in! This has just strengthened my resolve to travel with at least pne or two friends the next time – there are so many adventures that are automatically off-limits (due to safety or budget constraints) to a single woman traveller!

As we approach Goreme, the views outside my window have started looking like the surface of the moon – thanks to the fairy chimneys that Cappadoccia is famous for. These fantastic, pillar-like rock formations dot the landscape till the horizon, making the whole area look surreal, yet beautiful with a wild, lonely kind of beauty. 

These rock formations are what Cappadoccia is famous for. They give the landscpae a surreal, haunting feel

The fairy chimneys of Cappadoccia

Can’t wait to get to see  Cappadoccia up close and personal!

The breakfast lounge, Hotel Kelebek, Goreme, 4:00 PM

I got a good look at Goreme as we drove through the main town to reach the Hotel Kelebek which is built on top of a hillock outisde the main town. Goreme is a very small town with a main square dotted with single-storeyed houses and shops. It surives on tourism so there are lots of hotels, restaurants souvenir shops and bike rental places. The homes of the locals are beyond the main shopping area. The whole place has a quaint, cozy feel, kind of like some of India's smaller hill stations. But this being the off-season (the end of an unseasonably long winter), there are no tourist hordes, and Goreme looks like it must have before it become a tourist hotspot.

The road to downtown Goreme

Goreme

Checking into the hotel was easy and done in a jiffy since my room was already booked online. Unfortunately, my room doesnt have WiFi - there's WiFi only in the breakfast lounge (a tiny glassed-in terrace with 4 tables and panoramic views of the fairy chimneys unfortunately marred by sights of buildings and other signs of civilization) and the trek to my room from here is short but fraught with danger thanks to the tiny but steep stairways and dark corners. 

The breakfast lounge at the Hotel Kelebek

My room's tiny and very rustic looking (rough textured walls, ancient looking cut-outs in the walls to serve as shelves, a roughly-hewn pelmet over the windows) with a spotless, surprisingly modern bathroom. The tiny shower area has the best shower is the best I have EVER seen, across all my travels.  What's funny is that the ancient wooden door (very like the doors we have in our villages, complete with a wooden plank serving as the bolt) of my room first opens into the bath area- that is, the area where the wash basin is placed. Straight ahead, behind sliding glass doors in the loo & shower. To the right is another wooden door that leads into the bedroom proper.  :)   

 The bedroom itself is very clean and comfortable with a nice old-fashioned radiator to keep the room warm, a comfortable bed with heavy blankets, a small mirror with a wrought-iron dresser, and white crocheted curtains over two small windows that look down into the small valley where Goreme village is located.

The built-in cupboard in my room at the Hotel Kelebek

My room at the Hotel Kelebek - cosiness itself!

It's now late afternoon, and am relaxing in the breakfast lounge with a steaming-hot glass of Turkish tea. Sitting here, in the pin-drop silence of the lounge (the only sound is the gentle tapping of keys being punched on a guest's MacBook) and looking across the vista of sand-coloured fairy chimneys and further, beyond, snow-covered mountains, I feel this is how the roof of the world must be - unmoving, ancient, windswept and with a great silence draped over it. Maybe like Ladakh?

View of the fairy chimneys and mountains from the terrace of the breakfast lounge

The cave-houses of Goreme - some villagers still live in these, though most have been converted into hotels

Coming back to mundane matters, I have booked myself in for a day tour tomorrow to visit the highlights of this area, and also a hot air balloon - the balloon ride is subject to weather being fair. Right now it's not looking too opportune.....fingers crossed.

 

The breakfast lounge, Hotel Kelebek, Goreme, 7:00 PM

Just got back from a short walk . Short but good, since it was a steep downhill walk and (seemed) steeper on the way back. On my way back, I met a few Uncles and Aunties from the Gujarati Gang at the table next to mine at Istanbul airport. They were about my parents’ age, and seemed taken aback on hearing that I was travelling alone. They have very kindly opened their hearts and doors to me, telling me that they were put up at the neighbouring hotel just 5 minutes away from mine and I could just join them if I felt lonely. That’s Indian warmth for you!

The Hotel Kelebek at night

Now it's getting dark and lights are lighting up all over downtown Goreme as I sit in the breakfast lounge, perched on the top of the hill. The great thing about the lounge is that tea, coffee, juices and WiFi are all available here 24x7. Its also a great place to read, write and catch up with other guests at the hotel. I see myself spending quite some time here!