turkey; konya

{Friday November 1st} 

We had an early start this morning with breakfast at 5:30. Dr. T has told us all that we need to be punctual today so hopefully that goes well. We did got on the bus at 6am this morning; we have about 700km of driving to do today so it will be a long day. 

Around 8 we stopped for a quick bathroom break.  Around 10 we stopped for another quick bathroom break; we had a couple more hours of driving until we arrived in Konya around noon. The residents of the province of Konya are very traditionally Islam in comparison to where we have been.

Our first stop today will be to see a mausoleum (originally a monastery for the whirling dervishes).  There are several tombs inside a mosque like structure, with concrete hats sitting on them to represent the hats of the whirling dervishes, and that it's a man buried there. 

After we'd seen that, we went around the corner to a restaurant for lunch. It was quite good, mom and I shared a pizza which was really tasty, really thin crust, and it was nice to have a lighter lunch. When we were done and others were finishing up, we heard some music playing so we went to check it out. It was being played by the sultan military army and was very interesting.

When we returned, I had my first experience with a Turkish toilet. It is a rectangle with a bowl in the center that is sunken into the floor. First; the lesson is to face away from the door as to be directed in the correct way. Second; the art is to squat just low enough to be balanced and to have an appropriate level of aim, and just high enough to not be too close to this germ hotel. I have conquered; now I don't ever need to do it again. It's amazing how quickly ones need to use the restroom can diminish. 

When we finally finished lunch and got back on the road it was around 3pm. We still have a ways to go so I think that I will read my 'Three day road' book and relax for a while. 

A little over an hour later we had a quick bathroom stop and saw an old caravan stop where it would have been safe for people to stay while going from city to city. We didn't stay long as we need to be in Cappadocia by 6 for some of the people to attend a whirling dervishes show. 

From the caravan stop we had about 130km to go to Cappadocia.  We had to make up some time, but our driver managed to get us to Cappadocia just in time.

After we had dropped them off at the show, our driver took mom and I into town to help me find a charging cord for my phone. It's a very pretty town and luckily I was able to find one for only 10 lira. I was very happy about that, and we even had time for a Turkish tea before returning to pick the rest of our group up from the show.  The guy at the cafe couldn't believe we wanted to sit outside, as they are all in their parkas, but we thought it was a really nice night. 

It wasn't far to our hotel after we had picked everyone up. We are staying in a very big hotel, the suhan cappadocia hotel & spa.  The rooms are very nice, with softer beds, and we have wifi so I am happy! 

Once we were all checked in and settled in, we went to the dinning room for dinner. We had a great meal, it was exactly what I wanted. I mostly had spinach pizza. I have to admit i am excited to have peanut butter and real butter and hot vegetables and hot meat when I get home. It was a much better buffet then some have been though. 

We sat and chatted with the "front of the bus" group for a while and then went back to the room to get ready for bed. The rest of our group will be leaving at 5:30am for a hot air balloon ride tomorrow morning, but we opted not to do that so we won't need to meet them until 8. 

J. 

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