From the Bazaar to the Land of the Fairies

Our last morning in Istanbul we fit in a quick walk to the Spice Bazaar which we decided we liked better than the Grand Bazaar; it seems more locals shop at the Spice Bazaar with more tourists at the Grand Bazaar. I was somewhat disappointed that I couldn't bring Leorit to Istanbul for her wedding dress; I saw some pretty fancy meringue in the shops. One store owner wouldn't let me take pictures of his windows. I originally thought he might not want me to copy his dresses, but on second thought, he's probably afraid that I would have proof that he stole someone elses' styles.

We checked in at 12:10 for our 1:00 p.m. 70-minute flight to Kayseri, about 50 minutes by car from Gerome (Cappadocia). The shuttle picked up us and Minaz, a delightful man from Vancouver, BC. Coming into Cappadocia is like arriving on Mars.

I had never even heard of Cappadocia before, but apparently it's a famous and popular tourist destination, with many unique geological, historic and cultural features. Cappadocia has a unique, almost surreal, landscape. Volcanic activity formed a plateau of ash and strange, rugged rock formations were created by softer ash layers eroding faster than the harder layers which remained on top making the capped cone shapes. The formations are known as "fairy chimneys." The area includes over 600 Byzantine cave churches cut into volcanic rock and several underground cities (some for up to 20,000 people) which were used by early Christians as hiding places. Many of the ancient and modern people of Cappadocia live(d) in caves. Our room in our hotel, in fact our whole hotel, is a cave!

From the moment we arrived the Kelebek Cave Hotel the staff treated us like family. After settling into our cave (with modern bathroom) we strolled down the hill into town and had a delicous dinner. We walked back in the cold night (it's about 45 degrees here), went into our cave and passed out. We were awaken the next morning by the Muslim call to prayer (man, I miss Reveille) and a cat breaking into our sandwich/fruit/bread stash in the window.