We stop for lunch at Atatürk Alanı in Trazon. This is in the modern part of town which is up the hill and overlooks the port. My first kiymali pide for a few months and was most enjoyable!
That afternoon a visit to Sumela Monastery (monastery of the Virgin Mary), Greek orthodox used until 1923. Walked the easier 3km route uphill to reach this monastery which is cut into a sheer rock face, with the stream gushing down the mountain, the rain and mists swirling around the tops of the trees, this is quite a spooky place. Inside there are some amazing frescoes in the main chapel and sadly lots of graffiti! Went for the short route back, the path bends down the steep mountain for 1.4km.
Our bed for the night was at a motel in Cosandere, Maçka. A comfortable bed, hot showers and wonderful local cuisine, I had the lentil soup even though cabbage soup is the norm here (cabbages are sold by the road on the route along the black sea). The fish was good as you would expect close to the coast and mmm rice pudding (not at all like those school dinners!)
Travelling west along the black sea, it's a bitterly cold day. We turn inland at Giresun through the Kackar mountains and the pass 'Egribel Geçidi' on the way towards Sivas. Going through the pass it's snowing and the mountains are covered in the lovely white stuff! Some houses along the route look as if they've been shut up for the winter months, a few have smoke spiralling out from the chimney pots. It's lunch time and I'm beginning to yearn for our usual salad (tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and onion) and bread but it's a little cold at the top of the pass at altitude of 2,200m so we continue driving to the foothills which are a blaze of green and brown from the recently cultivated land, we pass by trout farms and an Hydro dam.
Bush camping tonight is gonna be cold! We're looking for our camp for the night and it is getting dark very quickly now so around 4 pm we stop off to set up our last bush camp, ironically a few feet from a cemetery but no rubbish in sight. All our timber was used for the blazing log fire and to cook Alison's South African dish 'Babotie! which was very tasty (must get the recipe!) followed by 'Brucie's self-saucing choc pudd'. We had a couple of visitors stop by our camp, trying to converse with my limited Turkish was fun, the gist of the men with the van 'do we want fish?' and the lovely farmer and his wife who came by on their tractor who bade us well!
The next morning a bowl of porridge and a cuppa to warm us up before we continue on our way passing through Sivas.
Before we leave though I am told I have to lift the last tent onto the roof of the truck (now I have been up once already!) I think an honour as this is the last tent to be loaded on this trip!
A stop at a service station on the way which was not yet opened other than the toilets and the workmen kindly gave us çay!
We follow the route through Kayseri into Ürgüp where we'll stay for the next 3 nights. The backdrop is the snow capped Mt Erciyes (Erciyes Dagı) 3916m high.
Up at 5am on Wednesday 28th November and I can hear the early morning call to prayer but I'm off to Goreme Valley to take a trip in a hot air balloon. I've been looking forward to this so much and the flight didn't disappoint. The weather conditions were perfect and we were up in the air in time to see the sun rise. Our pilot steered us expertly up high (5,000 ft above sea level) over the amazing lunar like landscape with the fairy chimney pots and caves below and dropping low to get a closer view in amongst the rock formations. I didn't expect there to be as many balloons in the air as there was (about 50 apparently) being near the end of the season now. Sailed for nearly an hour over lovers valley and many fairy chimney pots. Definitely a trip highlight and one of the best experiences ever and I have a certificate to show for it (oh plus lots of pics!).
Later that day we went to Kaymakli underground city, the widest troglodyte cave city in the area, 8 levels deep with low, narrow and sloping passages (not good for the head or back!) with stables, churches, kitchens, wineries and an 80m deep vertical ventilation shaft. More fairy chimneys at Rose valley, Monk Valley, Imagination valley and pigeon valley and Uchisar castle, the highest point in Cappodocia.
Went to a demonstration of traditional Pottery making at Avalon. A family business using Red clay from red river for decorative items or white clay for general use. The potter demonstrated his skill on the traditional wheel before mama Ann took a turn, her face said it all when she exclaimed it feels like snot! Decorations were hand painted by artists before we were taken to their show room (funny that). I was particularly keen on their wine jugs but at those prices even the hard sell wasn't gonna make me part with my cash!
Declined the offer of a visit to a carpet factory even with a free lunch thrown in - been there, done it, didn't get the t-shirt!
Our last night in Ürgüp, we celebrated our epic adventure and Norm's birthday at Han Ciragan restaurant set in a cave where it was quite fitting to have the local speciality 'Testi Kebab' meat and veg cooked in a clay pot sealed with bread dough, broken then served. Pre-dinner drinks at the hotel, a photo slide show of our journey and people's highs and lows all made for a great night.
Early start the next morning and 13 hours later we arrived in Istanbul, having left sunny skies, it hasn't stopped raining. Glad to be out of trekking gear, I hit the shops and strolled around Sultanahmet, far too many tourists for my liking, think I'll leave sightseeing until next week. It's Saturday 1st December, our last night of the trip, where has the last 12 weeks gone?
I've had an absolute blast, have met some great people and had some amazing experiences along the way, so many thanks to all those that made this trip so special.
