The drive from Istanbul to our Black Sea destination of Akcakoca took us through some amazingly lush countryside – seemingly endless hills covered in dense vegetation – apparently walnut trees, as the area is the world’s largest walnut producing region. The campsite at Akcakoca was lovely – grassy tiers down to the sea, with a bar and terrace. We arrived into the campsite on Sunday afternoon, and we had all day Monday to just chill. It felt incredibly self-indulgent to spend the whole day sitting in the rain and sun (it wouldn’t be camping without a bit of rain!), reading books, chatting and eating – just another “Manic Monday” for us – I can almost hear your sympathy from here! The weather finally improved sufficiently to encourage a couple of the more adventurous of our group to go for a dip in the Black Sea. Suffice it to say, I was not one of the adventurous ones… something about the slippery rocky approach to the water, and the water temperature of 10 degrees resulted in me being a spectator only. Apparently it was very “refreshing”, but I think it took Terry a good couple of days to warm up again! Dinner was a particularly good feast of BBQ fish and chicken, and involved an amazingly strong lemon salt and a lot of tin foil!
After Akcakoca we headed towards Goreme. I had high expectations for Goreme, and was not disappointed. The landscape is truly unbelievable – a very strange collection of rocks, valleys, cave houses, underground cities and a very nice day spa masquerading as a hamam (no complaints here!). We spent a day being shown around the sights, and taking countless photographs of rocks, a few of which are below. Despite its reputation as the driest place in Turkey, our luck with the weather continued, and we were again rained on. Fortunately, with an underground “cave” with an open fire, we managed to survive! And get our washing dry, which was an added bonus.
On the third night of our stay in Goreme we went to a “Turkish Night” – cue incredibly touristy demonstrations of traditional Turkish dances, Whirling Dervishes (only one of them seemed to be actually into it properly, I think the others were a bit jaded), and belly dancing. As is usual for these things, there was audience participation required, and luckily enough, I was chosen to do some belly dancing. While I was more than qualified to provide one part of the requirements, the dancing was a little beyond me as I had been told that I did not need to dress up, and therefore had chosen to adopt my current standard attire of jeans, t-shirt, waterproof jacket and hiking boots. Hmmm, what a good look. Fortunately there were only 300 people watching, so my humiliation went almost unnoticed… But I very much appreciated that enthusiastic reception from my fellow Odyssey-ers which did help to soothe the pain, although the all-you–can-drink vodka and raki also helped.
When in Turkey… so I went to a Hamam, for a proper Turkish bath. After a sauna, and cold Jacuzzi, I was scrubbed to within an inch of my life, and was somewhat disturbed to watch how much dirt was being rubbed away. After being soaped with suds created by a trick involving soap and a pillow case, I headed off for a lovely massage, and definitely came to the conclusion that life is pretty good at the moment!
Saturday morning brought the highlight of our trip to Goreme, and that was the hot air ballooning. Thanks in part to Michael Palin and his New Europe series, the popularity of ballooning has increased hugely, and the sky was covered in balloons. It was an incredible experience, from watching the balloons being inflated, to slowly gliding off the ground, to floating effortlessly through the air, to our pilot who seemed intent on showing us how close he could go to the trees and rocks without getting snagged, to the landing on the back of a trailer, the whole thing was amazing. As you might imagine, I went slightly camera happy and have many photos of rocks and balloons, balloons and sky, balloons and rocks, balloons and other balloons, so I have only put one or two below. We were incredibly lucky with the weather (for once!) and the sun was shining, right until we wanted to stop for lunch!
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