Saturday 26th.
After our goodbyes to our cruising companions, we loaded up the Tofas and headed for
Konya. The route took us via Fethiye, Korkutelli, Urgulu, Isparta, Egidir and
Beysehir. The trip was through a variety of landscapes and landforms, form fairly
dramatic mountain passes, lakes and steppes. It was apple picking season around
Egidir, and the wheat had recently been harvested on the steppes.
The road was pretty good, so we were able to keep a a good average of around 80 km/hr, including a stop for lunch.
Eating and drinking on the way to, and in Konya
Sandra & Judy Paul & Judy Pat & Sandra
Konya is quite a large city of 500,000. We arrived around 5 pm, and spent the next hour driving around trying to get our bearings and find two of the hotels recommended by the Lonely Planet guide. Round and round we went ... finally we stopped near a hotel and asked a passerby if it was any good. It wasn't, but he recommended another hotel nearby.
The Yeni Kosk Otel was quite
comfortable and close to the Mevlana Museum and mosque.We had a doner kebab (our first) in
a nearby restaurant, then went for a walk. We met a young man who had lived in
Sydney. He offered us a map of Konya (which we already had from the earlier hotel)
which was back in his shop. Eventually, the sales pitch started for his
kilims. Sandra and Pat eventually bought a nice one at a good price.
Sunday 27th.
We were woken early by the muezzin's calls to the faithful, around 6am. We had
a Turkish breakfast in the dining room, with a whole lot of Turkish tourists.
We
then set off for the Mevlana Museum with its fluted turquoise minaret. It also has
exhibits of Whirling Dervish scenes and materials, and many sarcophagi of former great
Sultans and their supporters.
Turquoise Minaret, Mevlana Museum, static Whirling Dervishes
This visit took less time than we expected, so we got underway around 11:30, across the steppes through Sultanhani, Aksaray to Nevsehir. Here we turned south to examine one of the underground cities at Derinkuyu. The section we saw went down 85 meters with passages and rooms going off in all directions. A ventilation shaft kept the air fresh. Going down was a bit difficult at times and I was bent double to avoid hitting my head. An interesting feature was a large round stone which was used to block the passage in event of invasion.
Entrance and part of Derinkuyu underground city
We retraced our steps to Nevsehir, then headed east to Uchisar. This was fairy-land with the old houses carved from the volcanic rock. there was also a spectacular view of the Cappadocia valley, showing the strata and the weathered 'chimneys'.
Some of the 'Fairy Chimney' landscape at Uchisar
After taking lots of photos, we found our way to the Gumus pansyon in Goreme. This had been booked for us by our kilim-selling 'friend' in Konya. We had two cave rooms that were originally part of a church, as evidenced by the arches. Extra rooms had been hewn from the rock to make bathrooms. It was quite cool in the evening as we went out for dinner, so I wore my leather jacket that I had bought back in Istanbul.
Monday 28th.
After breakfast, we drove to the Goreme open Air Museum, where there are several
Christian churches and chapels, again carved from the rock. One of them, the 'Dark
Church' or Karanlik Kilise contains spectacular frescos which had recently been
restored.
From Goreme we went to the Zelve valley with lots of 'Fairy Chimneys' and the Zelve Open Air Museum.
We had lunch there, then pressed on through Urgup to Kayseri. The drive took us through some windy river valleys and mountainous areas, down to the plain leading into Kayseri.
Seljuk architecture in Kayseri
We checked the markets, bought some presents and wandered around. After an early dinner we tried to return the hire car to Avis. Unfortunately the instructions were less than clear, and we finished up at the Airport. As it is a military airport, it was not open for passengers until 8:30. We retraced our steps and finally found the Avis office at a BP station, not Mobil. The manager drove us out to the airport at the correct time and soon we were on the Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul.
Our travel agent had booked us into the Holiday Inn at the Atakoy Marina for our last night. It turned out to be a Senior Executive Suite which was huge and ridiculous by comparison with the cave room of the previous night!
Tuesday 29th, Wednesday 30th.
A leisurely breakfast (bacon and eggs!), a walk over to the marina and soon it was
time to go. After 24 hours passing through Dubai and Singapore, we touched down in
Sydney at 7:30pm local time, but 7 hours ahead of Istanbul time.
So ended our most memorable holiday. Every day brought something different, and the variety was fantastic. From the bazaars of Istanbul to the steppes of Central Anatolia, we saw ancient and modern sites.
The trip went 100% according to plan and nearly everything that was on the list to see was seen. We drove more than 2,500 km and sailed more than 200 nautical miles in the four weeks. During that time we had blue, sunny skies except for a downpour in Kalkan. The remainder of the time the weather was fine if hot at the start.
Pat shot 6 hours of video, Judy took 13 rolls of film and I took about 650 photos
on the Canon digital camera.
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