Day 38: Cappadocia => Selcuk

Travel day! And it really did take nearly the whole day.

My tiny hair dryer is now dead. Unlike the first drop several days ago, this time it didn't come back. It fell from too great a height. Two months without my hair dryer; I guess air-dry will just have to do.

After a nice long breakfast, we departed from Goreme 11:30-ish for Kayseri airport for our 13:30 flight to Izmir. Getting on the flight was kind of strange. We didn't hear any announcement, Turkish or otherwise. At some point, people just started heading towards the gate door and more and more people got up, so we followed suit. Doubly confirmed that yes, this was indeed the flight to Izmir.

Getting to Selcuk from Izmir turned out to be more time-consuming that we had initially expected. First off, we had to take the bus from the airport into the city center. This really nice Turkish guy on the bus helped us get off at the 'right' stop, and then directed us to the bus company to buy a ticket for a bus that would take us to the main bus station, where we would then board a dolmus to Selcuk. The stop we got off at was close to a Pammukkale Turizm office to buy the bus ticket, but it turns out that they don't have buses to Selcuk that day, so they direct us to another bus company. Another 20 minutes walk with our luggage. But it ends up ok. Actually, the nice Turkish guy walked all the way with us to the other bus company (with his own duffel bag luggage!) and made sure we got our ticket ok and asked this other Turkish guy also heading to Selcuk to help us out. Turkish guy #2 didn't speak English, but he made sure we got on the right dolmus to Selcuk and such.

So, the day went...
=> Goreme, pre-arranged shuttle transfer to Kayseri airport, 11:30-ish
=> flight to Izmir
=> bus into Izmir city center
=> 5-min walk to Pammukkale Turizm office
=> another 20-min walk to another bus company
=> bus to otogar (main bus station)
=> dolmus to Selcuk
=> minivan to our hotel, nearly 7pm.

Dinner was at a local pide ("Turkish pizza") place. The only other people we saw there was locals ^o^ And our meal of pide+salad+ayran came out to 6.75 liras (~$4.50). K loves Turkey for the food prices! Maybe this is where I should talk about ayran... it's a salty yogurt drink... basically diluted yogurt with salt added. It tasted quite odd, but bearable, when we first tried it in Istanbul. I've been trying to drink (or eat) some yogurt every day to keep my system in good shape, and K says ayran's an acquired taste that he's somewhat starting to acquire. I'd definitely have to agree on the 'acquired taste' bit.

I had a set of less confused feelings leaving Cappadocia than I had leaving Istanbul. Maybe it's partially due to my being sometimes influenced by others' feelings? We saw Jocelyn at breakfast and she was talking about the things she would do on her *next* visit to Cappadocia. It was interesting; I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk that way.

I can say that I liked Cappadocia. The people there seemed to have a certain laid back atmosphere. It was the same Turkish friendliness but with a more genuine air to it. Coming from Istanbul, we definitely appreciated the lower level of pushiness. The area is simply beautiful with one-of-a-kind landforms. And there definitely is some nice hiking. One qualm about the hiking though -- it seems to all be exposed, i.e. out with the blazing hot sun on you the whole time, something K and I are not used to. We like our tree cover. Pampered, aren't we? Will we be back? I don't know. Definitely, a Turkey trip deserves a stop in Cappadocia.