Originally planned as a month in the Balkans and wandering around Romanian monasteries, a cheap ticket from Frankfurt to Istanbul kinda changed everything. Hated by travel agents, the idea of an itinerary is useless to me... see that butterfly and gotta follow. The above picture is on the road from Kayseri to Göreme, but getting ahead of myself here...For some reason the idea of cave homes and towns seemed really appealing so the destination unknown soon took on the name of Kapadokia (Cappadocia) and no better choice could have ever been made!
Landing in Istanbul was nothing short of an experience, swine flu hysteria had taken over the airport. We were greeted at the door of the plane by staff wearing face masks and yellow suits. Passengers had to hand them declarations of health (seriously!) stating that we had not been around anyone with swine flu, in any countries harboring the disease, had not within the previous 24 hours exhibited any symptoms (coughing, sneezing, bleeding from orifices and so forth) of the infection or felt ill. It took every bit of control within my being not to cough on one of them, but a new environment and sensibility took hold, thankfully.
After being herded past the medical station directly before customs the disappointment set in. The Istanbul International Airport was exactly that. A cosmopolitan shopping center with all of the trappings of downtown Manhattan. The thought occurred to change my ticket from Istanbul to Kayseri to my beloved Marrakech but no, the decision had been made and a rental car was waiting for me, this was no time to resort to running to the sanctuary of the familiar. So, after taking a redeye into Kayseri and arriving at three A.M., it was decided that this was going to be a damn good trip one way or another, and so it was.
The car was delivered to the hotel a little after noonish, teaching me to understand "Turkish time", but also discovering the unprecedented graciousness of Turkish hospitality. It was only the begining of understanding genuine friendliness and the simple feeling of trust, concepts very very foreign to the American psyche!
This was also time for the thrill seeker to become acquainted with probably the most exciting yet terrifying, energizing yet subduing, empowering yet humbling experience known to humanity... driving in the Middle East! Years of sky diving and scuba diving, rock climbing and caving, ice skiing or even commercial fishing could never prepare one for the adrenaline rush that comes with the application of rubber to the pavement where the laws of the road and sometimes even physics exist only in the imagination of the uninitiated! Breaking away from the paved roads made all of it worth while, finding hidden pockets of tourist free
areas where one could escape and wander unfettered. Since no dirt road is a stranger to me the route to the destination led to a number of discoveries and some surprising historical landmarks that would not exactly fall under access to the disabled guidelines. And thanks to some springtime storms only a couple of weeks prior to my arrival there was a brilliant display of wildflowers and some very healthy orchards. Granted, the car rental company probably wasn't aware that their nice Kia sedan would be subject to some serious off road exploration, but the mysteries that lay around each curve and twist were beckoning, there could be no turning back.
This led to the first exposure to an honest to goodness ancient monastery/cave church and dwelling. A place for the imagination to run wild, to wonder whose footsteps you might be walking in, to seek out the souls still living in the memory of the environment, stepping in a dung pile that could very well be a deja vu like flashback to where a previous resident may have stepped in something similar in that very spot.
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