Turkey - part 2

I hope you're all well. Personally, I'm doing great and couldn't be happier. So far Turkey has been treating me great. The weather has been amazing (over 20 every day), and life is good.

Much has happened since I last wrote. I believe I was in Istanbul then. Now I'm in Capadoccia, pretty much smack in the middle of the country. The scenery here
is amazing, with kodak moments at almost every turn. But that will wait, first back to Istanbul.

The rest of my stay in Istanbul was great. I spent my time seeing the sights, walking the streets, eating the food, and even getting a taste of the nightlife. I
visited Topkapi palace, where many Ottoman Sultans lived it up, and left the treasures behind to show it. There were rooms fool of Chinese pottery, several
dedicated to priceless jewels, and a collection of memorabilia from the Prophet Mohammed. I also took in the archeological museum, showing off the ancient
finds throughout the empire. Most impressive of all was Alexander's tomb - quite possibly the most impressive sarcophogus ever. Also, unlike many other
museums of its ilk, this one actually displayed the skeletal remains of the pharoahs, not just their tombs.

Walking around Istanbul is how you really experience it. I took a stroll through one park where couples were making out on every bench - it was slightly
awkward. Elsewhere, women went almost unseen. One night we got taken out to a pretty shitty club with a Turkish band doing really cheesy covers like "Sex Bomb" and "I Will Survive". Downstairs they played bad hip-hop, but it was interesting watching the kids socialize. It looked much like any club back home. It was incredibly expensive though and I left before the band played the Blues Brothers medley. Ah well.

I must make mention of the great people I met at the hostel. Mostly they were Aussies or Canucks, but there was also a Swede, several Kiwis, and one guy from Iceland. I spent one day wandering about the downtown area with Chris, one of Canada's top figure skaters. And, on my last day, I was accompanied up the Bosphorous by two lovely and entertaining Australian girls. The views from an ancient fortress to the Black Sea and back to Istanbul were amazing. The greasy fish lunch was not so good.

Now I'm in Capadoccia. Getting here was an adventure. I was able to get a cheap flight out here, which I jumped at because I hate taking 12 hour overnight bus
rides, and the price difference was worth it. Unfortunately I decided to leave on the day after Ramazan ended, which is a hug holiday here. The tram out to the airport was absolutely jam packed. I watched five by before giving up and forking over for a taxi. Suddenly the trip wasn't so cheap. I spent the night in a dingy hotel (without hot water) in Kayseri before heading to Goreme, where I am now, having arrived yesterday at noon.

Goreme is a gem of a place and its no surprise there's almost more hotels and pensions here than homes. Its hard to describe the landscape. Its somewhat
mountainous and very dry but what makes it really stick out are the valleys filled with "fairy chimneys" - strange rock pinnacles that dot the landscape and
also provide shelter for many people. The room I'm in right now is actually inside one. Yesterday I took a hike around "Love Valley", which simply provided a
taste of things to come.

Today I walked over to the Open Air Museum, which consists of a series of churches, some a thousand years old, cut into the rocks. Most were decorated with frescoes, some of which have stood up quite well over time. Strangely, when the Ottomans took over the area they decided to scratch out the eyes of all the paintings, for some reason pertaining to Islam.

After that I rented a mountain bike and took off to explore the surrounding area. I stuck mostly to the main roads, but took the opportunity to duck into
valleys filled with fairy chimneys when possible. I also managed to take a nearly disastrous wrong turn on the way back. I though the dirt road I followed would
take me down into the valley but instead it simply ended at a cliff - with 30 foot drops to either side. Grudgingly I dragged my bike back up the hill to the
main road and cruised back into town the easy way. On the brightside, I did see a fox, and the views were amazing.

Tomorrow I'm taking a tour to Mt. Nemrut to see these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemrut_%28mountain%29
It's a three day affair and the itinerary seems quite exhausting, but the price is right and they keep staring at me from the cover of my Lonely Planet, so I feel it necessary to see it while I'm here.