As mentioned in the previous post, we had some difficulty getting a room for tonight. I couldn’t find any events — marathons, festivals, etc. that would indicate greater demand for rooms, but would find out later that day.
The day began with a heavy rain and a thunderstorm. At one point, the storm hit so close that it knocked out the power in our room. Because of the heavy rains, we delayed leaving the room for a bit. Rather than eat breakfast first, we decided to go to the Basilica Cistern just down the street. We got there at rope drop and thanks to the rains, Covid, and the early start, we pretty much had the entire cistern to ourselves.
They were piping in some mystical sounding music which gave the area an eerie feel. It is a very cinematic location, albeit quite dark. It has been used in movies like From Russia With Love, as well as the location for an overly elaborate dinner date on ABC’s The Bachelorette, where nobody actually ate their dinner. These facts were not mentioned on any of the placards at the cistern.
Even with a fancy camera, I found it very difficult to capture the low-light environment. To my chagrin, I took a shot with my cell-phone, and it almost seemed to do a much better job than my slow-shutter tinkering.
At the far end of the cistern, we saw a statue of the head of Medusa. I guess the theory is that ancient sculptures and other artifacts were placed down here for preservation, and thus Medusa rests her head for all eternity.
After the cistern, we had our breakfast back at the hotel. We checked out, got a taxi to the airport, went through multiple security checkpoints as well as a few temperature checks before reaching the terminal, which seemed fairly vacant. That is until we heard what sounded like a marching band. A few seconds later, the marching band rounded the corner accompanied by skaters handing out Turkish flags to celebrate the national holiday that is Republic Day. I guess you could compare it to America’s July 4th. And as a result of this day, I think it’s fair to assume that everyone in the country has a long weekend.
Our ignorance to Republic Day was the cause for our hotel woes. We boarded our flight early after another temperature check, and within an hour from takeoff, had landed in Kayseri, Turkey. Whereas Istanbul was cloudy and rainy, Kayseri was clear skies and sun. We rented a car to give ourselves a bit of flexibility and freedom. I had asked for a manual since it was cheaper, but they gave me an automatic. I was almost disappointed until an hour later when we arrived in the town of Göreme in Cappadocia. The streets were very steep and narrow. Had I been driving a manual, it would have caused me great stress.
We arrived at our hotel and were a bit underwhelmed by our “suite,” which looked like we had accidentally crashed in on some elderly person’s room whose children weren’t around to help them update the interior. It looked a little beat. It was “ok,” but for the price we paid, we felt a little bit robbed. As a result of all this, we went down to reception to ask for just one night instead of two.
He said he would look into it, so in the meantime we walked down the hill to get some Turkish pizza for dinner (pizza that is cut in rectangles instead of triangles. By all accounts, Turkish pizza is just pizza.
When we got back to our room, the guy working reception refunded us the entire stay and then just charged my card 100 euro. This made us feel a little better until we realized we now have no place to stay tomorrow night. Ah, the difficulties of the nomadic life. Where will we stay tomorrow night? Hopefully not in our rental car.
passports & pepto bismol 