22 May 2008

Rocks, Rugs, and Other Happy Things in Cappadocia


Some good food. Cappadocia's hotel was the best...until we got to the one on Mt. Nemrut...until...they're all great.

Ferdinand the cow, whom we saw on our hike up to the hotel Saturday afternoon. It's a lovely vista off the back terrace, and we got to see it up close and personal.

Walter and his shadow running down a sandstone cliff. Yay for cliffs!

Cool rock houses. Don't you wish you lived in one? They even have satellite TV!

OK, the computer's being irritating and refuses to post any more pictures. But let me tell you about my adventure with the carpet salesman. I made him really mad, and here's why: I bought a rug. (My goodness gracious, it is sooo beautiful. Flowers and paisely with pink and green and yellow and basically every one of my favorite colors.) Anyway, I bought it for almost half the price he asked at first. AND I made him ship it home for free. Booyah, Turkish man! I win!

We're near Tarsus tonight, right on the Mediterranean. Guess what I did today? First I woke up in the fantastic mountain hotel, up near the top of Mount Nemrut. We climbed it yesterday: it was soo blustery, but the most gorgeous view and good exercises. Anyway, this morning we drove all the way back down. Our driver Riphat has mad bus skills, I tell you. We drove for a really long time, though not as bad as Sunday, when we drove for 14 hours...ugh. And we stopped in Tarsus to see the house in which Paul reputedly lived.

Aaand finally, we arrived at our hotel and headed straight to the beach. Swam out to a castle in the ocean. It was a lot of fun, so refreshing, but I felt absolutely terrified for about fifteen seconds when I got two-thirds of the way out and I realized the the castle wasn't getting any closer. But Catherine, who is a swimmer extraordinaire, was very kind and stayed right beside me till we got there. Then we sat on the castle wall and sang songs from Little Mermaid and Titanic. It looked a lot like the Spanish fortress in Horatio Hornblower. :o)

Quirky mentionables:

Today, I saw a man driving a motorcycle with a woman behind him, riding sidesaddle, and holding a baby.

Turkey has Magnum ice cream bars. They are good. I am kind of in love with them. Think chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate shell and milk chocolate shell over that...um yes. Magnificent. They make a good lunch!

Goats live on Mount Nemrut. It's rather Heidi-esque. I thought of you, Mom!

Urfa, where we just stayed for several days, has good bazaars, good souvenirs (wait till I see what I got you, guys), good prices on water, good Biblical history, and a bad Muslim vibe. Definitely very awkward to walk around with anything but a long skirt and headscarf. But that's what male friends are for.

So far, Turkish men have told me that I am beautiful, an angel, a sweetheart, shiny like the sun, and a Broadway star. Sheesh.

I love the poppies here.

God is good, my roommate's amazing, the country is lovely, and the internet is temperamental. What more can I say?

4 comments:

  1. I like those rock houses. Do you know how old they are? Nice job on the rug there. I find bartering culture interesting, having no experience with it.

    Luke

    PS: Did any of those Turkish men offer camels?

    PPS: The word verification for this thing is 'tuflfxe.' I thought that was funky sounding :-)

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  2. In Haran, several of the men evaluated the girls and told them how many camels they'd be worth. Hannah won (600 camels) because she's the tallest.

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  3. It sounds SO wonderful. :-) Do you have any pictures of the castle you swam out to? That sounds positively amazing...I want to do that someday.

    Keep having fun, miss Broadway star. ;-)

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  4. I am glad you are having such a great trip...memories for a lifetime! Did you check the tag on the rug to make sure it had the "Rugmark" tag on it? That means that no children have been involved in making it. The boys and I were studying a lot about that this year.
    I am enjoying your blog!
    Love, Tia Gwen

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