My second oasis was exactly what the doctor ordered. I think the doctor in this case was a psychiatrist. I used to half go crazy on long road trips and then learned that if I take hikes along the way I can manage just fine. So when I planned on a trip across Turkey and scheduled in a number of hikes. Unfortunately, the first couple of these, which were both to have happened around Lake Van, didn’t happen. By the time we left Urfa, I was in serious need of some added variety to the routine.
So I split off from Tekin and David at Belichek and took an overnight bus to Aksaray—a modern city of around 100,000 people on the west end of the Cappadocia region. It was a bit after 4:00 a.m. and I was at the new central bus station and needed to get to the new one. So I started walking the few kilometers figuring that I had plenty of time before the mini-bus would leave from the old central bus station to Ihlara Village. After a minute or two of walking someone pulled over and offered me a ride. My knowing no Turkish eliminated the possibility of a conversation with that man and another who, at the old central bus station, invited me in to a café where I couldn’t explain why I was refusing his offer of coffee or tea. I left the café after a while and happened upon a young man who spoke English and the remainder of the wait passed comfortably. After a bit of grocery shopping the mini-bus to Ihlara Village finally arrived and I was off towards my long awaited first hike in Turkey.
I arrived at the hostel at mid-morning expecting to find numerous tourists sitting around exchanging tips and making arrangements for day trips. Instead, I found the place a ghost town—perhaps all the hikers all hit the trail earlier. I read a bit and took a nap to supplement the negligible amount of sleep I caught on the bus. I awoke again around 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. and decided to get to the valley for some hiking.
I
started the hike and determined that I would hike now and catch the featured cave-church
es later. I walked and walked and walked along the flat riverside trail. It was scenic but I wasn’t in the mood to take many pictures. This was a break from being a tourist. When I arrived at the Selime Monestary—a point where I felt okay with turning back—I decided to take in the site. Perhaps the cone shaped hills I saw across from a village I walked through piqued my interest. I then headed back towards the valleys entrance at Ihlara Valley. At the end of the hike I looked at a few of the cave churches. The frescoes of the snake church seemed most interesting.
I returned to the hostel to find out that I was the only client of the hostel. I found that out at 10:00 p.m. after having gone to sleep at least an hour before. The manager hadn’t asked for my passport which always happens at hotels and hostels in Turkey—some registration requirement for the police—and his replacement knocked on the door dispite there obviously being no light on inside. I told the stranger that I wasn’t going to give him my passport as he could be any Joe and that I’d deal with it in the morning unless he was willing to bring the manager who I had met before. He accepted my reasoning and waking up the manager evidently wouldn’t have been as pleasant an experience as waking up a guest so he tried another tactic to keep me from sleep—he brought the cook by asking what time I wanted my free breakfast in the morning. I told him whatever I thought was going to get him out of there so I could go back to sleep but he brought the cook by and they insisted that I needed to tell him a time so he knew when the cook had to go to work. I then realized that I was the only one in the hostel and I told the cook that he could take tomorrow off as far as I’m concerned I would eat from the food I already had (I had purchased sheep yogurt, some fruit, and wheat bread in Aksaray) and GOOD NIGHT! I doubted that I had dealt with real hostel employees (the whole conversation was through the window as I refused to open the door) until the next morning.
The next day I read until Tekin and David showed up in the mid-afternoon. They had hiked the valley before arriving at the hostel so we decided to go to the nearby town of Guzilyurt where we walked around town in the evening and then visited some more cave churches the next day. By mid-morning we were on our way back to Aksaray and then off to Konya.
So I split off from Tekin and David at Belichek and took an overnight bus to Aksaray—a modern city of around 100,000 people on the west end of the Cappadocia region. It was a bit after 4:00 a.m. and I was at the new central bus station and needed to get to the new one. So I started walking the few kilometers figuring that I had plenty of time before the mini-bus would leave from the old central bus station to Ihlara Village. After a minute or two of walking someone pulled over and offered me a ride. My knowing no Turkish eliminated the possibility of a conversation with that man and another who, at the old central bus station, invited me in to a café where I couldn’t explain why I was refusing his offer of coffee or tea. I left the café after a while and happened upon a young man who spoke English and the remainder of the wait passed comfortably. After a bit of grocery shopping the mini-bus to Ihlara Village finally arrived and I was off towards my long awaited first hike in Turkey.
I arrived at the hostel at mid-morning expecting to find numerous tourists sitting around exchanging tips and making arrangements for day trips. Instead, I found the place a ghost town—perhaps all the hikers all hit the trail earlier. I read a bit and took a nap to supplement the negligible amount of sleep I caught on the bus. I awoke again around 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. and decided to get to the valley for some hiking.
I
started the hike and determined that I would hike now and catch the featured cave-church
es later. I walked and walked and walked along the flat riverside trail. It was scenic but I wasn’t in the mood to take many pictures. This was a break from being a tourist. When I arrived at the Selime Monestary—a point where I felt okay with turning back—I decided to take in the site. Perhaps the cone shaped hills I saw across from a village I walked through piqued my interest. I then headed back towards the valleys entrance at Ihlara Valley. At the end of the hike I looked at a few of the cave churches. The frescoes of the snake church seemed most interesting.I returned to the hostel to find out that I was the only client of the hostel. I found that out at 10:00 p.m. after having gone to sleep at least an hour before. The manager hadn’t asked for my passport which always happens at hotels and hostels in Turkey—some registration requirement for the police—and his replacement knocked on the door dispite there obviously being no light on inside. I told the stranger that I wasn’t going to give him my passport as he could be any Joe and that I’d deal with it in the morning unless he was willing to bring the manager who I had met before. He accepted my reasoning and waking up the manager evidently wouldn’t have been as pleasant an experience as waking up a guest so he tried another tactic to keep me from sleep—he brought the cook by asking what time I wanted my free breakfast in the morning. I told him whatever I thought was going to get him out of there so I could go back to sleep but he brought the cook by and they insisted that I needed to tell him a time so he knew when the cook had to go to work. I then realized that I was the only one in the hostel and I told the cook that he could take tomorrow off as far as I’m concerned I would eat from the food I already had (I had purchased sheep yogurt, some fruit, and wheat bread in Aksaray) and GOOD NIGHT! I doubted that I had dealt with real hostel employees (the whole conversation was through the window as I refused to open the door) until the next morning.
The next day I read until Tekin and David showed up in the mid-afternoon. They had hiked the valley before arriving at the hostel so we decided to go to the nearby town of Guzilyurt where we walked around town in the evening and then visited some more cave churches the next day. By mid-morning we were on our way back to Aksaray and then off to Konya.
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