Yabba Dabba Dooooooooooo.......

I dread the overnight bus. I am finally beginning to feel normal after a long bout with a cold and now I am depriving myself of a bed and sleep. On the bright side I don't have to pay for a hostel or waste a day on a bus. I booked the bus with a shuttle to the station, which I am now very thankful for. The shuttle picked me up before 6:30 and we didn't arrive at the bus station until after 8:00....though we did go in a big circle at one point. I met a fellow Canadian on the shuttle from Montreal, though he lived in Ottawa and attended U of O. He had even heard of my favourite professor! We chatted on the way and the time flew by. We sat together on the bus and though the bus was pretty comfortable, as far as buses go, it stopped about 10 times between 8:30 and 12:00am. Not much sleep happening there. And then at 1:00 we stopped for a bathroom break, I exprienced my first squatter toilet......I am not sure how I feel about these.  We stopped again at 4:00....and then the stops started again. At 6:30 Saas woke me up as the sun was rising over the mountains and the sky as pink. It was lovely.

As we turned in towards Goreme, I started to see the rock formations famous in the region. I could also see caves dug out of the rocks and what appeared to be homes built right in the caves. Amazing. I walked the 2 minutes to my cave hostel and was let into a spacious room with 4 beds. The walls and celings are carved out of the rock in a cave. It's surprisingly warm and an extra heater is there to help. I sat in the common area for a few minutes, so I could update my dad on my whereabouts and let him know I'm alive....:-)  I then set out towards the Goreme Open Air Museum. According to the guy at the hostel it was a short walk from the hostel and there would be signs. In reality it was about 3 km of walking on a road covered in snow. There are sidewalks, I think, but they are covered in deep snow banks. There was also no signs at all. I continued walking and stopped to see a tree covered with evil eyes. There were 3 trees, each with different decorations. One had pots and the other had what appeared to be rags tied to its branches. The trees overlooked a paddock filled with horses. As I watched, a man was leading 2 horses down the hillside towards the enclosure. The horses pulled and pranced and the man, wearing a leather jacket and inadequate shoes, looked like he had no idea what he was doing. The horses had no lead lines and were being led by their halters. Another man ran to take one of the frisky horses and it pulled and tugged to get away. I found it amusing to watch but the two men seemed seriously annoyed. They looked like amateurs in their non farm clothing (which reminded me how often I had seen my grandpa in his dress clothes heading into the barn) lol. I continued along the road and found the "Goreme Grand Bazaar" which was a small row of shops. They weren't seeing much business and hounded me relentlessly. I just kept going and finally reached the museum. After a small entrance fee I wandered around and into caves. Most of them were former churches as the Christians were the ones who carved the caves out of rock hundreds of years ago. No pictures were allowed in the churches but I managed to sneak a few in. I ran into Saas who was on a tour but only for a small moment. After exploring the area I began to walk back towards the town but made some detours on some paths. Did I mention how great my new shoes are? My feet stayed dry the whole time and the grip is great!

Just on the edge of town I ran into a girl walking on her own and we stopped to have lunch together. I didn't know what else to do as everything seems to be quite far from this town so she recommended the Hamam. She said it was so nice. So I went back to the hostel to grab my bathing suit. On the way to the hamam I booked a tour for the next day and had some apple tea with the travel agent. At the hamam, the guy at the desk convinced me to get the olive oil massage after. He said after 4 months my skin will be flawless. Sounds good to me. I walked down 2 sets of stairs to the women's hamam where I was greeted by a woman who directed me to change. I put on my bikini bottoms and the thin sheet like wrap they supply and headed out. She painted my face with a clay mask and sat me in a sauna with a 15 minute timer. I sat in the warmth and relaxed until the sand emptied from the top of the timer. I left and showered and then not knowing where to go I went in the warm pool. The woman came in and scolded me because I had to go to the hamam first. I walked into the round room with a round tiled platform in the middle. A large woman in a bikini met me. She smiled just before ripping of my covering. Gulp. She lay the "towel"down on the tiled platform, over a pillow, and instructed me to lay face up. She took a mitt and scrubbed my legs, body, and arms. My skin peeled right off! I flipped over and she did the same thing. It felt so good to have my back scrubbed and to have my travel skin exfoliated right off! Haha! The next step is soap. She filled a mesh bag with bubbles and then plopped it down on my body, massaging in the bubbles. She then poured warm water over me to rinse away the bubbles. She repeated the steps on the front and then sent me off to a steam room. Afterwards I went and relaxed for ages in the warm water pool. When I emerged I was stripped of my thin sheet and given fluffy towels for my body and hair. I drank apple tea and then lay down on a massage table. I haven't had a massage in ages and it felt good to have someone working the knots in my back and shoulders(though she wasn't nearly as good as my wonderful massage therapist, Chrystina). Afterwards I was so greasy and relaxed. On the way back towards my hostel I ran into Saas and we had a traditional Cappedocian dinner of casserole in a clay pot. They bring the sealed pot to the table and break the lid off to reveal the meal. Yum. We parted ways afterwards and I found my cave room was a little chilly. I turned on the portable heater and set it near my bed. The bathroom was still mighty chilly though. I slept fitfully, waking up hot one time and cold the next. In the morning I went to have a shower (I needed it, my hair was full of oil) and found the water was cold.....and stayed cold. I sucked it up and washed my hair in the unheated water. I ate french toast in the hostel and headed down to meet my tour. Unfortunately, though it felt good to have my knots kneadd, my neck was sore and I could varely turn my head.

We stopped at a panoramic and saw caves and houses built together. I learned that Cappadocia means land of beautiful horses. We went to Derinkuyu, an underground city built 12 stories down. It was built as a defence and wasn't a full time residence. Some parts were pretty narrow and the roof was sometimes very low. There were some spots where I could feel panic rising but I managed to make it through OK. I was happy though when we emerged into the open air. Our next stop was a valley but it was closed due to snow. We saw a cave church instead and then stopped for a delicious lunch. Afterwards we saw the Selime Monastery, built in caves of course. Our last stop was at Pigeon Valley, a beautiful view near sunset. I spent a couple of hours with new friends I'd met on the tour before heading down to catch the overnight bus to Pamukkale.

It should have been pretty straight forward. Bus comes at 8pm, get on, and drive. Nope. The bus was delayed until 8:30. Then another bus arrived and we were sent onto that bus and then got off at the major bus station in the area. The bus finally arrived at 10pm. I didn't mind too much, besides the waiting, because I didn't want to arrive in Pamukkale at 6 am without a place to stay anyways. Luckily I had a seat to myself and slept pretty good for a bus.