Friday, January 06, 2006
Journey, winter in Turkey
By reaching Turkey the journey we prepared in advance stops. We only focused on Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Turkey is in our guidebook and we know we want to visit the Nemrut Dagi and Cappadocia but are unsure of the weather conditions. During most of our journey we were looking for shade when we stopped the car. It is strange when you have to search for the sun to warm up.In many places we met other travelers that were busy with their own journey. We had many nice, interesting conversations with them. Especially in countries where you can not have a large conversation with the local people because of the language barrier. Or the fact that you hardly meet women because men do all the business. Therefore we are member of Servas to be able to meet local people and spend time with them. In Egypt we did not have time to visit them and in Jordan we did not try. All the other countries do not have any hosts (yet) but Turkey does. So every leg of our journey is different: Tunisia with its Roman ruins, Libya with its extended desert, Egypt with its beautiful temples, Jordan with Petra, Syria with the beautiful markets and now Turkey with the hospitable people.
We have to wait at the border of Turkey because they have lunch first. Good idea, so we have lunch in between the two borders next to the mine fields…
It turns out we need visa for Turkey nowadays, we assume because of the problems Turkey faces with trying to enter the European community. For 40 euro (instead of $ 60) we can enter with the whole family, the carnet is stamped and we try to get money in the next town. But after the rain of Syria we now have to deal with snow!!! A few days ago we were still in the desert and now snow. It is a little bit too much to handle for us. Instead of continuing to Nemrut Dagi we decide to turn west to the coast, out of the snow and into temperatures above zero. Once we reach the highway we can speed to better temperatures and have a Turkish dinner in a restaurant before going to bed. There is even a Christmas tree, lights and the boys are excited about it. Our journey the day before Christmas does not end in a stable with a oxen and a donkey but in our own campervan.
The next morning the sun shines and we head for Cappadocia. By the time we have to climb a pass of 1650 m the sun is gone, the mist all around and the temperatures are dropping below zero once more. Within no time there is snow all around us: a white Christmas! That is rare in Holland, but not over here. We meet 2 Dutch guys cycling to Nepal, they wave us to stop and we have a chat on the road. Unfortunately our van is too small to invite them to come in but at least we can offer them some bananas to have more energy to climb the pass that is awaiting them. After that meeting we feel much better in the snow with our luxury van, comfortable and warm. Nevertheless we decide to stay in a pension in Cappadocia and find a room in a cave of Ufuk pension in Göreme. The wood stove is on fire, we have tea and enjoy the fairy rock formations covered with snow. The next day after the splendid Turkish breakfast we go hiking in the snow with Bart and Rik. In their rain boots they are not very well protected against the cold but the sun shines and there is no wind. It is beautiful to hike here and we visit the open air museum with several cave houses and churches with frescoes. Unfortunately the boys decide to start mourning and crying here and even the offered chocolate sweets from the South Koreans cannot stop them from doing so. 
Our second day we walk to the chimneys behind the pension. While Hans and Rik hike to the hills to have a better view I stay behind with Bart on a sunny spot and tell stories. It is another beautiful sunny day and we start the car to drive around to see more chimneys. The drinking water is frozen solid but the van starts and the main roads are free of snow. Our van does not like snow on the road, it could not climb even a small hill. Of course we do not carry snow chains. We were prepared for warm temperatures, snorkeling and even rain, but not for this.
In the pension Hans contacts a Servas host in Ankara and that is our next goal. Without problems we drive to his home. In Ankara we see a Toys R us and stop to shop for Rik’s 2 birthday. We expect good quality toys but are disappointed to find a relatively small collection of B quality stuff. Bart and I manage to buy a large car, 2 small ones and a bag of plastic blocks. It is wrapped up in Christmas paper, although I try to explain that they are birthday presents. Not easy when people only speak Turkish!
Our Servas host Kemal arrives from work after Hans makes a telephone call and the boys do not mind to leave the bus for a bed in his apartment on the 7th floor. We have a glass of wine and good conversation about a lot of subjects and sleep well on a comfortable bed bank after midnight. The next day we do laundry and I really enjoy the clean and nice smelling clothes. Time to go home? We spend the rest of the day reading stories, painting, watching a DVD for the first time in our lives, making pancakes for dinner and only go out to visit a fast internet café to update the Dutch website. Kemal arrives late but we still have a nice time trying ayran (a Turkish salty yogurt drink), an undrinkable fermented carrot drink and several different olives.
Finally the birthday of Rik has come on the 30th of December and Bart could hardly wait for
the presents to be opened. When Hans gives Rik a present he says “present no” in Dutch. Only when Hans opens it and Rik sees the car he is all of a sudden very interested! The cars are a success and the blocks can also make cars so Rik is a very happy boy with a large smile on his face. Too bad for him that we are driving nearly all day to Istanbul to meet Oylum, our next Servas host. To compensate this we go to MacDonalds on Taksim Square for dinner and Rik loves French fries. The square is full of lights for the Year end party and all of us have a good feeling although it was not easy to drive by car in Istanbul to this center. When Oylum arrives I drive through the rain and still crowded streets to her living quarters not far from the Bosporus river. The street she lives in is really steep but I manage to park the car, we carry the boys to the 3rd floor and put them to bed again as it is already 11 pm. We have a beer and a good conversation with her and her cousin before going to bed at 2 pm.The next morning we go out for breakfast and take a taxi to a restaurant besides the Bosporus river. Oylum treats herself every weekend on such a breakfast and we are happy to join her. The boats go by, the sun shines and after the delicious breakfast with eggs, cheese, lots of honey and tea we stroll along the river. Although we could only stay 1 night she offers us her home for another night although she will not be there. We happily accept this and spend the last day of 2005 cooking a meal and playing a game of Colonists while watching the Turkish top 100 on tv. We do not wait for the New Year but try to make up for the last 3 nights we went to bed far too late. Only vaguely do we hear the fire works at midnight, but happy new year.
New Year’s day turns out to be a perfect moment to drive to the old town of Istanbul, along the Bosporus we find our way to the Aya Sofia and the famous Blue Mosque. The sun is shining and we stroll around. The Aya Sofia looks pretty ugly from the outside, but when we stand next to the Blue Mosque and look back it suddenly
looks a lot better. The Blue Mosque with its 6 minarets looks especially nice on the inside. Bart, Rik and I try to find out how many different colours are used in the tiles and paintings on the ceiling. Rik notices how high the ceiling is and the lamps that have very long cables. In the meantime Hans tries to take pictures. Every time during this journey he says he does not want to take many more but every time we see new interesting things that need to be on the picture! From Istanbul we drive towards Greece. It is a strange idea to have to leave the Lonely Planet of the Middle East behind us pretty soon while our journey is not yet finished. We spend the last Turkish night next to a Burger King and Migros supermarket with a playing ground for the kids. Turkey has many nice and safe playing grounds and Bart and Rik enjoy them very much. So we try to visit them during lunchtime if possible. In the supermarket we spend the last Turkish lira. Not a problem as we find the prices for food pretty high, many items are even more expensive than at home. Maybe we just outgrew the western standard of living after nearly 15 weeks.# posted by Hans, Monique, Bart en Rik @ 9:45 pm 
