Yesterday was our final day in Istanbul, so we spent the morning doing the tourist things that we hadn’t experienced yet: the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar. We liked the spice market, but on our way to the Grand Bazaar we got a bit crowd-o-phobic so stopped for a snack and a decision. Truthfully I (dawnO) was OK with skipping the Grand Bazaar, but robO felt it was a must see. And he was right. It was quite a nice experience, especially compared to the chaos of the surrounding streets!
That evening we flew to Cappadocia, an area in Central Turkey. It was a long experience, from 2 screaming babies on the plane, to lost then found luggage, to a long ride to Goreme, where the room we had booked was no longer available; and it was after midnight.
Turns out we had traveller’s luck on our side. The hotel manager Mustafa is an amazing man. It was not his fault at all that we had no place to stay (our online booking was a bust, but no money lost). He took it upon himself to ensure we were taken care of. He set us up in a room at a friend’s hotel (which is a 5 star place I’m sure) for the night and would figure out more in the morning. This morning we were stressing a bit about our options, and Mustafa came back, arranging 2 more nights at this same amazing hotel (did I mention for the original price we were to pay??!!), recommending a great hike for our day, and by the way, he’s a hot air balloon pilot and set us up on a flight with a discount for ‘all of our trouble’. If you are ever coming here, you NEED to meet this guy because he is a caring and generous man. I can hardly wait to give him a positive review on Trip Advisor. (Not coincidently, the reason we chose the hotel that we did was because of great reviews about this guy.)
Anyway, this area is so cool. It’s kind of like Drumheller meets Bedrock from the Flintstones. Here are some pics from our day…
Amazing! When is the balloon ride?
It's great that Mustafa sorted things out for you. Which hotel – you know Mustafa is rather a common name in Turkey. 🙂 I'm glad you are enjoying Goreme despite the problem with your booking. I think more people should experience it! I've tried writing a website guide to it, but not got very far, still its interesting to research and read more about peoples experiences of the area.