Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey
Friday, May 8, 2009
Goreme is wonderful, spectacular, magnificent… I'm running out of adjectives to describe all the incredible places I’ve seen! The landscape was unlike anything I have ever seen before; dusty mountains, bizarre "fairy chimneys" and underground cities. We were delighted and excited to find that our accommodation in Goreme was actually a hollowed out cave; a cave that was kitted out with carpets, mattresses, a fireplace and cold Efes! I ate dinner, listened to music in our newly christened "rave cave", had a few beers and went to sleep blissfully happy. The campsite is well-trodden for overland travelers and I enjoyed perusing the various scrap-books left by overlanders in the past, complete with photographs and catch-phrases. I am delighted that my footprints are now helping build up the history of the hippie trail. The next day we went for a driving tour around Goreme, in the rain... Visited the underground cities and the chimneys that are shaped like a camel and Napoleon's hat, and then went back to get ready for our belly dancing evening
! Everybody was in their finest attire, the whole kit and caboodle. We were expecting a big night ever since we had been informed that there was unlimited booze... and what a night it was. We had a really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, delicious dinner of mezze and beef mince and rice, we watched the whirling dervishes which were bizarre but strangely beautiful, spinning in their ethereal glow, and then the mayhem of the belly dancing began. They pulled up a few people, including Lee and Shane (orange dick-of-the-day hat and all...), but I was the lucky girl to be pulled up to "get married"... This included sitting on a chair in the middle with a veil over my head while various boys were called in front of me and made to audition to be my husband. Jack did press-ups, Steve-O did a summersault but alas, it was not to be. I was then paraded around the circle and made to choose a husband, much to my embarrassment. Eventually I chose Adam, our driver, and they proceeded to wed us. Then a copious amount of rakki was consumed by everyone. Luke showed off his wonderful dancing in Flintstones bar and a good time was had by all. Needless to say, I made an absolute bananas bottom of myself and won myself the title of "dick-of-the-day" the following day for my spectacular digestive pyrotechnics…
A few brave souls faced the dawn the next morning for a balloon ride over the peculiar peaks and troughs of Goreme, but I spent most of the next day snuggled up in our cave by the fire with Jack, Andrew and Shane, who I managed to convince to shave their heads and get Mohawks. Andrew decided to go one step further and shave a racing stripe into his stomach hair... We walked down into Goreme town center and enjoyed salad and a shisha before heading back for an early night. The showers at our campsite were absolutely fudging brilliant. The hot water didn't run out, they had pressure, they were clean, and we were all in heaven. I think I may have enjoyed the best shower I have ever had at that campsite, and got all cleaned up ready for the next two nights of bush camping before we reached Dogubayazit at the border.
