Cappadocia

Monday night I took an overnight bus (12 hrs.) to Cappadocia with Nicole and her boyfriend Benni. We had breakfast and checked out the town of Kayseri and then took a mini-bus to Ürgüp. After haggling with some car rental and tour places Benni had the idea of hiring a taksi for the afternoon. Nicole bargained with him in Turkish (she´s German, but her Turkish has gotten quite good since September). İ sealed the deal when İ pulled out $10 less in cash than he wanted-- but the sight of money was enough. We visited several places in the area and saw lots of cool rock formations and homes built into the sides of cliffs, though we didn´t get to any of the underground cities. We took another mini-bus to Nevşehir and walked around a bit before getting another overnight bus. The got off in the capital city of Ankara and İ arrived back in İstanbul by about 7:30 a.m. Luckily İ was able to sleep on the bus each of the past two nights so İ am feeling pretty good today. İ´m about to go to İstanbul Modern (art museum) and will meet some friends for dinner and some more live music tonite. Flight home tomorrow should arrive in D.C. by 8 p.m or so... İ love coming the other way-- actually get to arrive on the same day you left. İt´s been a great trip. Thanks for keeping up with my blog, İ hope you enjoyed it... check back next week for some bonus photos.