This is my first attempt at Blog creation after being introduced to the concept by Rob, a travelling American, who we met in Cappadocia, Turkey, towards the end of June 2007. Wendy and I have been frequent visitors to Turkey over the ten years we have been together and, having read Rob's accounts of his travels round Europe and Asia, I wondered if anything I am able to write would prove to be as interesting to other people as Rob's observations have been to us.
Our holiday started Saturday June 16th from London - Gatwick and Wendy celebrated her birthday the next day in Side which is on the Mediteranean coast of Turkey between Antalya and Alanya. Side is a predominantly German resort which means that a little less English is spoken there than in other resorts we have visited where the British are the dominant force. That suited us fine as it gives us more chance to try out our Turkish without sounding too pretentious. It's kind of hard to struggle through in Turkish when the waiter speaks better English than some of the English do.
Rob, who hails from Atlanta, Georgia is an English teacher but addresses everyone as "Y'all" which is a form of English unfamiliar to the British ear. "Y'all" suggests a group of more than two since "Y'both" would be suitable for a pair and "You" would be for an individual so it is clear that Rob has a severe numeracy problem and made the right choice in teaching English rather than mathematics.
We enjoyed Rob's company for only a few short days in Cappadocia (more of Rob later) and I urge you to look up this part of Turkey on the internet and then pack your suitcase and go see the place for real. Seeing it for real is an unreal experience.
We hired a car in Side on Tuesday 19th having been assured that the car, a Renault Clio, would be no more than 5 months old. Another car company we flirted with told us his would be only 2 months old. Similar claims came from anyone we cared to speak to about car hire. These promises, I suspected, were part of some quaintly Turkish bullshit ritual and I believed none of them. Our car, when we got it, had clearly been round the world several times in its (short?) life and although I accept that it had been 5 months old once, it was not a recent event.
The journey to Cappadocia required me to drive some 500 kilometres on Turkish roads where any use of the indicators was taken as a sign of weakness. I generally solved this by indicating only when under severe stress and then by using the windscreen wipers instead of the flashers. Turkish drivers, in common with many other parts of the world, drive on the wrong side of the road. This may, in part, be the result of poor car construction since they don't put the wheel and pedals on the drivers side but, instead, place them where the front passenger sits. As a consequence almost all cars in Turkey are driven by the passengers which probably accounts for the high mortality rate.
Our plan "A" involved an overnight stop in Konya after crossing the truly spectacular Taurus mountains but when we saw the size of the place I immediately activated the wipers and turned right to head for the next town of Aksaray.
We found the signs for the centre of town and drove nervously in until Wendy spotted a sign saying "Information". Luckily it was on the right and I didn't even need my wipers to turn that way. We waited for a while for the traffic in the narrow street to unblock and as the way forward cleared I was passed by several cars who were quicker off the mark than I was. I finally tagged on at the end of the line, drove into a small square and parked. My trusty hikers GPS was used to mark the position of the car (to within 68 metres apparently) and we set off on foot to find a small hotel/pansiyon or whatever was available because the information office was closed. We walked round the block in circles (or possibly squares?) several times until we were convinced that the only part of Aksaray with which we were becoming increasingly familiar had no accommodation of any sort to offer.
We were greeted with several tentative "hellos" by the locals who had cleverly deduced that we were strangers in town. Wendy's strappy little summer dress was probably the giveaway in a town which doesn't see many visitors and where the typical female garb doesn't prize exposed female flesh too highly. We saw one man at least three times on our "aliens from another planet appear to be lost in town" walk and he approached us just as a friendly taxi driver took pity and was giving me a street map. Either man could have been working under wifely instructions to get Wendy off the streets before the menfolk got too unruly and the first man, who might have been a triplet actually, offered us any assistance we might require.
"We're looking for a small, cheap hotel in this area" I said in my best Turkish which also means "Take me to your friend's hotel" which is what he did.
We booked in to the Toprak Hotel for 1 night B/B and they loaned me a young Turkish chap to walk back to my car with me after Wendy made it clear that if I tried to get my car to the hotel without a native guide I would probably not be seen again. Someone else stood in the remaining car space to reserve it for me and I eventually made it back safely, despite there being several left junctions which required liberal use of indicators, wipers and worried looks. We were parked on a bit of a hill and a kind soul wisely slipped a piece of kerbstone behind my back wheel. They were obviously familiar with that type of rental car.
In the time it took me to walk to my car and get back to the hotel Wendy had joined the owners family, rendered a good portion of our life story and was slurping apple tea with the best of them. We joined our luggage in our very nice bedroom, freshened up a bit and then set off into town to explore and to eat after my having changed out of shorts and into light trousers in case it was my manly legs which were actually attracting so much interest.
As an (almost) vegetarian I generally do very well in Turkey but the place we inadvisedly selected must have been harbouring a grudge. They tempted me with the possiblity of an omelette but it turned out that all I was going to get was some pide bread freshly cooked with a little cheese in it. Quantity was not a problem, however. There was lots of it and I'd had quite enough before I was even half way through it. Wendy, on the other hand, had a generous portion of unidentified but well cooked meat accompanied by a very attractive salad. Wendy offered me some of her salad and I could have insisted on some of my own but the long drive and the lateness of the hour had taken its toll and I was a beaten man.
We paid the bill and wandered off into the night to explore a little more before finally returning to the hotel where we enjoyed a really good night's sleep in readiness for the final push to the small town of Ürgüp which we had chosen as our base for the exploration of Cappadocia.
