From Another Planet...

The bus ride to Cappadocia was actually very agreable. We went through very high snow-covered mountains that just took your breath away. Amazing!!!! Cappadocia is definitely a place to spend more than 2 days. It is like if you just set foot on a different world with it's canyons, valleys, weird cone-heads houses, caves and what not. Our hostel was build in the rock (yes we slept in a cave!). People from the Ottoman era used to live in these caves, hidden away for protection against the enemy. With time, part of the soft rock eroded and that is why these houses are visible today. There are some bizarre rock formations (see picture #4) which gave the name to the valley where they are situated as "Love Valley"...can't seem to figure why though... ;) ;) ;)
We then moved to Safranbolu, a beautiful town which really seems to have been stuck in time. The people in the "old town" live in old wooden houses again dating from the Ottoman time. The pension we stayed in was a very beautiful 300 year old house runned by a great family. The food there was delicious (cooked by the mother). We befriended the neighbor's cat who was only about 3 month old. We also went to a Hamam (turkish bath) were Nick received a massage from a 300 lbs Turkish man...with a moustache....let just say that I heard him scream like a little girl!! ;)
Now back to Istanbul for the week-end at Sarkan and Hakan. it seems like they are not tired of us yet, maybe we should stay longer...:) We had some crazy party Saturday night (still recovering) and went back smoking Turkish water pipe with banana flavored tobacco this time. Good times with good friends.
It is now Monday morning, we are in Budapest after another sleepless night (plane left at 5:25 am so we spent the night at the airport). I think it's time to hit the sac...

ZZzzzzz......
Isabelle