The usual breakfast was even more spartan today. Olives cheese and bread but it was redeemed by the presence of the gardener. He is well connected with the hotel and the restaurant they sent me to last evening. However he sat with me and eat his bread and cheese and talked non stop. Not a word of which I undertsood, so he gets a picture today.
The ride to Cappadoccia was pretty good initially as I skirted Ankara. to avoid that smog bound city, and rode through farm land and they grow a plant like a swede literally by the truckload, or should I say trailer load, as the tractors and trailers were up and down the road again, yesterday olives, today swedes or big black turnips.
However as I am prone to I found a shortcut. For a moment I thought I had slipped back in time, Russian roads again, but my idea worked and I found the road I wanted and was sorry I did. It seems Turkey has had a massive ibjection of roading money and they are upgrading repairing just about every road I ride on. So it was a slow journey and I had to take another shortcut which I was afraid may be my undoing as the garmin map seemed to loose itself about that time and I ended up on dusk in a deserted village. It was very wierd. Almost like they inhabitants all walked out on the same day 40 years ago. (Pic). So I had to navigate by nose and fortunately it worked. I found familiar ground and a familiar city ( last years visit) and soon the Otel at the top of a steep cobbled street (arent they all). It was a hotel in the hillside. Very quaint living in a cave.
So I dined in town, the usual safe bet soup salad and shish ( or kebab) and lots of glasses of Cay pronounced chai or similar and is of course the national drink, tea.
nzl04
