Day 3 -Monday 11 May

Paris Charles de Gaulle is huge and takes security quite seriously. Despite adequate time and a good run to get there, we still had very little time until our Turkish airways plane departed.  They board you a lot earlier here as sometimes they have to bus you to the plane or taxi a long way out or in a queue.

Turkish airways plane was quite small and the seats of European inter-country planes are not long haul planes by any means or made for my backside size for ultimate comfort. We flew economy and did not enjoy being an anonymous sardine at all. 

The flight went smoothly and we arrived at Türkiye and walked and walked to the domestic transfer area.  The airport is massive and modern.  The food is expensive but we settled on a pizza to share, with an EFS beer and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It cost us about 40nzd for the pizza, two dipping sauces, two coffees, and a beer.  It was probably extra tasty as we had not had any breakfast before leaving and really only pick at the airline food which is very carb heavy.

Our next leg was at 16:00 local time to Kayseri in Cappadocia.  We had a car booked there to drive the 1hr to Goreme where our accomodation was for the next 3 nights.  When we first started travelling Vern was anxious about driving on the right hand side of the road, but several trips later he is very good and safe. I am extremely proud of him.

Like a duck to water Vern manoeuvred us safely out of the parking station and with my navigation assistance we set off in the direction of Goreme.  We have watched some videos on driving in Turkey and were aware that the roads were generally good, avoid driving in Istanbul (check) and look out for cardboard police cars. Yes they are a true thing.  It was a little nerve racking getting out of the city, but we managed it safely. With a brief stop at a servo for water and bottled coffee we were in Goreme on sunset in a tidy hour with no drama.

I forgot to mention but near Kayseri is a huge snowy mountain, with at least 6 volcanoes hugging its massive girth.  I will try and look it up, but can just imagine the geological birth of the area.  Of course what we are to see in Cappadocia is the product of earthquakes and eruptions over time. There were also 22 military planes at the airport, so I think there is a base there.

Back to driving the other thing we learnt quickly is there are no ‘road rules’. No one pays attention to the speed limit – in fact you can’t find out what it is – so just follow the leader. The scariest part is lane markers seem to be for no purpose whatsoever – you can slide in and out of lanes (of course with no indication), or simply straddle the lane line and take two lanes.  If you want to just pull over anywhere – highway or city – you just stop and maybe put on hazard lights or not; following traffic be aware! 

As we got close to our town it was exciting to see some of the etherial rock formations. We started to get very excited about the possible balloon trip tomorrow, albeit the weather monitor for balloons says only about 50/50 chance due to the wind level. 

After a helpful check in, we went the short drive to town (parking rules = no cost, park where you like for however you like) and found a place to quickly grab a bite.  The meal was nice, but nothing to rave about.  We had chicken in a traditional sauce (tomato, onion, capsicum) in a pottery dish – slow cooked style, a large chopped tomato, cucumber and capsicum salad and complimentary bread. The bread included a fresh thinner bread which was very nice. Drink wise we tried a ‘buttermilk’ drink which really appealed to me – kind of like kefir but not as sour and a pomegranate soda.

As we were eating in the heavens opened up with quite a spectacular and long lasting thunder and lightening storm.  The restaurant had an inside section opening up to a roof only covered street terrace. We were inside thankfully on the edge of that, which afforded the great view and yet we remained dry.

That was until we had to go back to the car – we had not unpacked our umbrellas so got a bit wet. All good, we laughed like teenagers while dashing as fast as my wonkey donkey knees would allow!

We set the alarm for 0400 and hoped for the best.