May 2010 Cappadocia to Mardin

Saturday May 1st Dublin to Göreme

Well, the journey has started and we are on our way. Those who asked me to write about our trip will be sorry because as those who know me well, know, I love the opportunity to talk!

We decided to make an early start so we headed for Dublin on Friday evening. We got a great deal in Bewleys Hotel at the airport to stay for a night and park the car for 12 days. This means we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday.

We checked in for our flight without any problem and had breakfast in the airport. I have never bumped into anyone I know in Dublin airport so I was very surprised to meet the retired principal of my school. We had worked together for 18 years. Not only did we meet but he was sitting across the aisle from us in the plane. It is his first time coming to Turkey. He plans to spend a week in Istanbul. I will have to ring him when I get home to see what he thinks of the place.

We had 5 hours between flights. Our bags had been checked through to Kayseri so we got a taxi to Bakırköy. There is a big shopping centre there so we had a mooch around and then had pide. Everyone was very surprised İ spoke turkish......even if badly but İ had great fun trying it out. My reward was the smiles and the compliments on my beautiful turkish! We had a lıttle bit of excitment on our way to the shopping centre when our taxi driver cut in front of a car coming up to traffic lights. The driver got out of his car and so too did our taxi driver and they had a very heated discussion in the street about his driving. We thought there was going to be fisticuffs for a moment. Luckily the lights went green and they both decided it was wiser to move on.
It was back to the airport then for our flight to Kayseri. The flight was uneventful and both our suitcases and orselves successfully made the transfer.

We had booked the trip through Heritage Travel and they picked us up at the airport. We arrived at the Kelebek Hotel at three in the morning and we were brought immediately to our room. Check in procedures were left until later in the morning.

We had booked room 103 in what used to be the stables. It is a junior suite and we were speechless. The room is beautiful, there is a sitting room, furnished with turkish antiques and the bedroom is a cave.

The sitting area of our suite

If you want all the mod cons like wi-fi and mini-bars in your room this is not the place for you but if it is atmosphere and peace and quiet you want, it is perfect.

The bedroom

The view from the breakfast room is amazing. It would certainly put the grumpiest of risers into a good mood.

View from the breakfast terrace

Check-in formalities completed we spent a little time soaking up the sunshine in the hammock in the rose garden before we set out for the Open Air Museum here in Göreme. We opted to take the guıded tour organısed by Herıtage Travel here at the hotel. There were just three of us and the guide. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour. İt has been a long time since we have taken guided tours, usually gettıng about ourselves with the aid of a guide book, and we had forgotten how much extra information you receive.

İt was very relaxed, we were not rushed from place to place and given plenty of times to take our photographs. Even though there were many tour buses at the museum, entrance to the churches was very well stewarded and only a certain number allowed in at a time. The frescos were amazing and very well preserved especially in the ‘karanlık kilise’ the dark church.

Frescos in the Open Air Museum in Goreme

This was also to be seen at the entrance to the museum

Natural rock formation 

Later this evening we went downtown and found the restaurant Nazar Börek, recommended on Trip Advisor, and, true to the reviews, the food was wonderful. İn addition to the food we had live folk music which added to the occasion. The restaurant filled rapidly and so we shared our table with a young couple from Libya and their two month old baby. İt made for a very interesting and enjoyable evening.

Music while we eat

If the rest of the holiday is as enjoyable as today, we truly will have the holiday of a lifetime.