Turkey: Summer coming

Crucible  Spring

May melts into June

Slow, as if two chemicals

Never quite merging

Three months after creating this new blog I am finally taking the time to write a second post. Sweetbabyjesus has it really been that long!? After 5 computerless months (coffee and Macs don’t mix… don’t want to talk about it…) I have my ex-ex-Mac back and I am in love all over again!

Early summer is slowly melting into the Istanbul psyche. The air has changed and the sun sets later each day; amid honking taxis and neighbor people playing Black Sea music in the valley below, the feral cats growl at one another’s amorous advances and the construction workers on the huge office building site across the way yell loud, unintelligible, manly things at one another to pass the time. Tourists clog each over-taxed artery of the main city centers and locals flock to city parks and green spaces each weekend.

Having just finished the school year and worked my way out from under a tremendous pile of grading, I happily pushed away my pensive thoughts of “what the hell am I doing next with my life?” (yes, the short-term answer is the same thing for another year, but the long-term answer is more perplexing) and welcomed my brother John and his girlfriend Taylor to Istanbul.

The first few days we stayed in Istanbul and did the main tourist must-do’s like the Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque and Galata Tower, filled our baskets at local markets bursting with olives, strawberries and 10 different variations on two white cheeses, drank Efes, danced in rooftop bars, wandered around back alleys, ate Turkish omelets,  kebabs, baklava, meat balls and simits, and, just when we thought it was all too much, we saved ourselves and flew down to Capadoccia, the land of the ferry chimney rock formations, in the middle of the country.

After 2 taxi’s, 3 buses, one plane and one quick car ride we found ourselves settling in to the Shoestring Hostel in Goreme town in Capadoccia. First off we hiked over to the open air museum about a kilometer outside town, wandering through rock formations and caves where early Christians in the 9th to 11th centuries A.D. used to hide out and do thoughtful monk stuff like carve living spaces out of rock and paint amazing frescoes.

All this beauty made us very tired, so we got ourselves a bottle of the best local swill (Turkiye is not known for its wines) and headed back to the hotel where we were staying, IN A CAVE:-)

The next day we went on a tour of the countryside around Goreme. We went to the underground cities of Derinkuyu, where Christians used to live more than 8 stories under the ground in ancient caves carved into the earth by water and human hands. We also went to Ilhara Valley and hiked along a rushing mountain stream shouldered on each side by steep cliffs where thousands of years ago people had carved living spaces and homes for pidgeons. 

And now, a note about pigeons: according to our guide, Efe, Christians are very fond of pigeons. Pigeons are a symbol of peace along with the olive branch and that’s why the early christians in Capadoccia built so many houses for them in the rocks. Who knew!? Pigeons.

Before leaving Capadoccia, we wanted to go horseback riding, not only because I think all three of us have a deep-seated nagging suspicion that it’s what people from Kentucky are SUPPOSED to do when we go to a new rugged outback land, but also because Taylor found a blurb in the guidebook about a guy people called “The Horse Whisperer of Capadoccia.”

We hiked over to the place where the stables of the Horse Whisperer were fabled to be and low and behold, a tall, dark, long-haired man in a cowboy hat and boots sauntered over to us. We asked if he knew where we might be able to find someone called the Horse Whisperer and he replied, I shit you not: “I am the Horse Whisperer.” !? He went on, “actually, I was just whispering to those horses over there, I’m trying to get them to be friends.” Double !?

We made a plan to go riding with him the next day and left giddy with the knowledge that we were going to have the adventure of a lifetime with the Turkish Horse Whisperer… a darker version of Robert Redford, but with no less appeal. As we walked back over to the hotel John and Taylor teased me, saying “Jennie! You HAVE to date the Horse Whisperer!” I smiled to myself, thinking, well… his teeth were a bit wonky, but those boots were nice.

The next day, excited about our impending date with the Horse Whisperer, we hiked up into Pigeon Valley (oh birds of peace and love) and up to the highest point in Capadoccia, Uchisar (three castles).

 FINALLY, that evening the time had come for our ride! We skipped over to the horse stables, confident that this would be the experience of a lifetime. It was.

When we showed up, a small man muttering in unintelligible Turkish managed to express that the Horse Whisperer was out with another group, but that he would be our guide. WTF!? All our dreams of magical times with the Horse Whisperer were dashed. 

In fact, halfway into the ride when the obviously wild and not well-whispered horses continued to buck and nearly plunge us down steep cliffs of stone, I leaned forward and said “Pardon, sizin Turkce anlamiyorum” (I don’t understand your Turkish). The old Turkish man in the store across the street from us laughed his ass off and screamed out “I can’t understand him either! He’s not Turkish.” Well, at least it wasn’t me, I thought. 

Even though our hopes of fun times with the Horse Whisperer were dashed, we didn’t die and we did get to see a lovely sunset.

And then, just as we were about to return to Istanbul for another five days of epic fun, Cappadoccia gave us one last gift to remember her by.

These pictures speak for themselves.